Little Notes
by CrystalHeartZyx
Summary: Alec saw that someone had just wrote a simple "Hi" in the top corner of the desk. Alec wrote "Hello" underneath it. One-shot, High School AU. (Ha ha, JK, it turned into a two-shot) (Even more JK, it's a three-shot. I swear that's the last JK. I hope)
1. Little Notes

**What is this madness?! A one-shot?! NOOOOO!**

 **But seriously, I don't do one-shots, so this is amazing. I mean, it's a long one-shot that kinda just got longer, and longer, and longer…BUT IT'S STILL A ONE-SHOT! I SWEAR!**

 **(I might need to turn it into a two-shot later by splitting this chapter up…or three-shot if people like it…)**

 **High school AU. Based on some events that happened to me and then I was told "That would make a great story, you know."**

 **My OC from my " _High Warlock of Brooklyn(s Sister)_ " story is in this story, BTW, because I am incapable of avoiding putting my own characters in.**

 **The Shadowhunters and Mortal Instruments series all exist here, just imagine there are other characters that are similar that replace the characters so that they can be in this AU. Oh yeah, I also don't own Cassandra Clare's work. :(**

 **Warnings-ish:**

 **-I ramble.**

 **-My grammar might be bad because I'm mentally exhausted from school. For example, I edited this thing and found I called a girl the _brother_ of someone. See, I am brilliant when I'm writing sleep deprived.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **:)**

* * *

Alexander Lightwood was tired of school.

He sat down in his English class with a sigh, wondering if he'd have the will to go on after this class. He considered himself pretty adept at English at this point in his life. It was his first an d only language, after all.

Sure, his parents were making him take a Spanish class because apparently he didn't want to learn the language when he was little enough that it would be, you know, easy for him, and his parents didn't force him to be bilingual back then. It was his parents' fault that maybe one of them didn't just only speak in Spanish to him, or maybe say that only Spanish was allowed in their house or something. Only now did they apparently realize that Spanish was a necessity for him and forced him into Spanish class at school.

But English just felt unnecessary. Seriously, there were only so many books you could read, essays you could write, vocab words you could learn, and tables you could bang your head against before you couldn't learn anymore.

He was just relieved that he had gotten his essay on Anti-Gay legislations in parts of the world other than the U.S. over with. The teacher laid down a thousand laws about how they couldn't do anything on the U.S. since they'd take U.S. History next year and they were technically supposed to be in a World Studies class this year. They were told how they should structure the paragraphs, how they had to make things in size 12 font, double spaced, and Times New Roman, while also making it under 5 pages (which was _stupid_ considering they were practically expanding the text as much as they possibly could).

The subject he chose was close to his heart, so when he saw it on the topics to research, he instantly jumped to snatch it up. It was only when he started researching that he realized what he'd gotten himself into. First off, Google and basically any database that he used focused heavily on the U.S., since, you know, he lived in the U.S. Second, he had to read things about why the rest of the world was extremely homophobic in order to provide a counter argument to all of the reasons why it should be accepted. He read all these stories about how people who were homosexual had to live in oppressive societies where they could get jailed for just holding someone of the same sex's hand, whether they were actually a couple or not.

His teacher just kept giving more and more papers on how they were supposed to cite sources and how they should structure their evidence and analysis and they killed so many trees giving out the papers for it all. Seriously, it was like the English teacher was trying to compete with his Biology teacher, who gave them papers every single day, often avoided printing on the backside of the sheets for reasons Alec could only speculate, and never actually teaching. He just kinda gave them sheets of text and then said when the test would be, leaving the students to either do the work or just talk to their friends and be on their phones.

He couldn't tell if he envied or felt more lucky than his sister, who was two years younger and still in middle school. She had way easier stuff, and even when he was at her level he felt middle school was easy compared to high school. At least he was two years in and had still maintained his 4.0.

He passed his paper to the other students who were in front of him to join the growing pile at the front that the teacher would collect. Today was just more work on the book that Alec had finished, annotated, and completed the current worksheet on already. The teacher said that they'd be working on it in class, but he wanted to get it over with at home - as well as have an excuse to tell his family to leave him alone because he was working.

He sighed and stared at his desk, covered in the regular graffiti of high school teenagers. Someone wrote " _Live, Laugh Love,_ " in a heart, and then someone else apparently countered it with " _Die, Cry, Hate_ " inside a rhombus. There was an eye drawn by someone with actual skill, but it was only one eye. Alec picked up his pencil and did the best he could to make a second eye beside it. There was a clear difference in the skill level, but it wasn't bad in his opinion.

He saw someone drew a couple stick figures, one shooting a bow and arrow at the other whose back was turned. The arrow was drawn mid-flight heading towards the stick figure with little lines to indicate it was flying through the air. " _Finish this,_ " was written next to it. A couple people had drawn pictures of the stick figure with the arrow sticking out of the back of his head, some where he didn't seem to have had a reaction and others where he died painfully. There was one where another stick figure intervened and sliced the arrow in half with a sword with the caption " _Ninja interference!_ " beside it.

Alec drew a picture of the stick figure turning and revealing he had his own bow and arrow and shot one to intercept the first. He'd always wanted to be a professional archer, while his sister Izzy said that she would do well with a whip. They had made little makeshift weapons when they were little and pretended to save the world. His best friend Jace - who had come over so often when he was little that they had considered him family and Alec's brother - had said he preferred the classic sword. Alec hadn't seen much of him since they got to middle-school and he learned of this thing called dating girls.

He saw that someone had just wrote a simple " _Hi_ " in the top corner of the desk. Alec wrote " _Hello_ " underneath it.

He heard the bell ring and realized the hour was up and he was finally released to the glorious hour of the day called lunch. He packed up his things and hurried out, dreading when Calculus would start afterwards.

* * *

" _I'm Magnus. What's your name?_ "

Alec stared at the response on his desk and debated whether to respond truthfully or not. He was a cautious person and knew about stranger danger, especially when it came to high schoolers. Still, there couldn't be _too_ much harm in writing his first name alone. There had to be plenty of Alexanders in the school, and a lot of them had to go by Alec. Still, better safe than sorry.

He usually went by "Alec," and his friend had once pointed out that it was weird since he didn't have a single "C" in his name. He really should be "Alex," but he had grown up as "Alec" and he liked it that way. He had once read a story about someone named "Alek" and so he figured that Alek would still be a proper way of spelling his name. He was already putting a letter in his name that didn't belong normally, and spelling his name with a "K" looked cool.

" _Magnus? Cool name. I'm Alek._ "

Alec wondered what kind of person was named "Magnus." Then again, it didn't seem that weird of a name in the long run. His friend Shu had gotten him to read some "Magnus Chase" book filled with some mythology about Thor and Valhalla and whatnot. What was that called? Norse?

Oh well. It wasn't like he was ever going to meet this guy in person.

* * *

" _Alek's a cool name too. What hour are you writing from? I'm in English 7th_."

" _4th hour English._ "

Alec found himself excited to sit down and find that he had a response. The graffiti on the desk continuously changed and had writing in all different places, but Magnus had written his message in light pencil and in the corner where it seemed no one else had touched, which was smart. Hopefully Magnus knew his handwiriting if someone else responded between 4th and 7th hour, but overall, the messages seemed as inconspicuous as they could.

He wanted to write more, but it was probably best that they kept their messages to a minimum to avoid drawing anyone else's attention. He had no idea what other conversation topics there were, but he wanted to continue the strange way of chatting. It was certainly new, and he knew that it probably wouldn't last when they ran out of things to say, but it would be fun while it lasted.

* * *

" _Ever notice that when you say 'Backwards' and 'Forwards' your lips move in the direction your speaking?_ "

A couple of people had already noticed the message and wrote things like " _Oh my gosh, I never noticed that!_ " " _Awesome!_ " " _Admit that you tried it the moment you read it!_ "

Alec felt a moment of shame that he had tested it the moment he read the message before moving down to the final comment. Then again, he realized how stupid it was that he was ashamed of that. It was a natural response, and the person who wrote it was trying to be funny. Besides, it wasn't like Magnus was watching him or anything. He overreacted way too much.

He felt a little disappointed that the message had got out to other people, and would probably get out to more before 7th hour. At least he knew Magnus's handwriting pretty well. It was neat for a high school boy, but not as neat as most of the girls wrote.

He figured he might as well give a fun fact of response, so he looked one up on his phone and wrote down one that he thought would be interesting enough.

" _Ever realize that the first show of a series is often called the pilot because it's the first time the show is on air?_ "

* * *

" _:) Marvel or DC?_ "

" _Depends which source you're considering. Both have enormous franchises with ups, downs, a cartoon series or ten, movies and video games. Can't say one's better than the other._ "

* * *

" _Favorite fandom then?_ "

Alec noticed that Magnus was asking questions that anyone could answer, and so they didn't seem too personal. Alec felt a weird urge to ask for something more, but he reminded himself that these messages were for all who sat at the table to see.

The 'then' on the end of the question made him wonder if it was specifically directed at him. A small and irrational part of him clenched in hope that it was.

" _Shadowhunters and the like. Heard of it?_ "

The book series had always mystified him. He and his friends had always pretended to be the characters in the book. It's where he got his affection for a bow and arrow, where Izzy got her inspiration for using a whip, and where Jace had gotten his fondness for swords - especially how he decorated the play sword that he used as a kid with the runes and markings of the book and the matching TV series.

* * *

Despite the other answers that had been left, behind, Magnus had kept the question above in the corner for others to answer and wrote " _Bottom Left._ " Alec looked over to the bottom left of the desk and saw another message.

" _Love that series. What would you be if you were there?_ "

" _Shadowhunter, duh._ "

* * *

" _Warlock. Best type of Downworlder. Shadowhunters are jerks._ "

" _Some are good, you know. But Warlocks are cool. They seem a bit overpowered - if plot convenience would stop getting in the way._ "

* * *

" _I know, right? I guess one or two SH's aren't bad. But most are. What weapon would you use?_ "

Alec smiled, ready to nerd out, but remembering that he should try and avoid paragraphs of information.

" _Bow and arrow. Always been my favorite._ "

* * *

" _The character that uses that weapon is the only SH I like. He's the only one I can possibly take seriously. Everyone else seems way too dramatic, but he actually seems genuine. He's a bit negative in return, but that's what makes him real. Right?_ "

Alec was surprised that a message that long had survived, but he was grateful that he'd been able to receive it.

" _Yeah, I love his character along with his weapon. Perfection. He your ultimate favorite?_ "

* * *

" _I like the main Warlock best, obviously. He's got a playful demeanor, but he's the guy with the hard past hiding behind the façade. And his magic is awesome._ "

" _And he's dating the archer. It was meant to be._ "

* * *

" _Yeah, totally._ "

Alec realized what he'd written only after he read back the previous message before he felt his chest tighten in embarrassment. He'd basically just suggested that the two of them were meant to be dating like the characters in the series.

He took a deep breath. Magnus probably only agreed because he thought that Alec meant they were meant to be fandom friends, that's all. Dammit, him and his overreacting. It wasn't like someone taught you how to react when you grew up liking guys. He didn't know if it would be the same if he liked girls, but he knew that because he was different than 99% of the guys around him, expressing who he was could be scary. He worried all the time about whether guys he was communicating with were the same as him or not. Most of the time, as he'd learned over the years, they weren't, but his mind always wanted to find someone else, just one damn person, who he could sympathize with at the least. He couldn't seem to squash that optimism if he wanted to, and he'd tried.

He breathed, trying to beat down the awkwardness that was building within him for no reason and just imagine he was nerding out with a friend.

" _So, what would you do if you were a Warlock?_ "

* * *

The two of them exchanged multiple messages, making sure to erase things that took up too much space and limiting themselves so that they didn't draw too much attention. They threw out a few questions in the middle of the desk to draw the attention of anyone else that read what was one the desk, but Alec found himself enjoying going to English class more than he ever thought possible.

" _11 122 53 114, Alek. 61 152 143 54 # 51 52 53 04 15 46 27 98 19 310. Figure it out._ "

Alec blinked at the series of numbers, but saw no immediate pattern. He liked a challenge, but his brain had been overwhelmed with remembering all the stuff that he needed for school and he was basically brain-dead at this point. He looked for the classic patterns like exponential growth or that trick where you take the last two numbers and add them to get the next, but when those didn't work, he gave up.

He snapped a picture with his phone, distracted the entire day as he wracked his brain to figure it out.

* * *

"It's a code."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"No shit, _Shu_ ," Shu corrected.

She took his phone and wrote down the code on a piece of paper. They had their 2nd hour off together, and Alec wanted to complete the code by the next day he got into English class. In his - possibly OCD - need to decode the numbers, he resorted to asking his charismatic friend for help.

"Let's see…Okay."

"You solved it?!" Alec asked in disbelief.

"Well, I found a way to start it. It's not a hard code, Alec."

"I'm fried from school. I don't know how you retain your sanity and still get straight A's."

"I'm just awesome like that. Anyway, just look. There are three sections, three codes. The first one has your name next to it because that's the translation to the first code."

"Making a key to translate the second part," He realized.

"Yup. Now, see that there are four numbers and four letters to your name - each number represents a character. The first number, 11, would translate to "1, 1" with this chart."

She drew a five-by-five tic-tac-toe chart and then wrote the letters inside, putting the letter "K" with the letter "C."

"It gives the alphabet an even 25 letters. "C" makes the sounds of both "K" and "S," and since "K" comes first, the two are interchangeable. Okay, so the 11 would be row 1 column 1, which is "A," and unless I have no comprehension of the English language, I'd assume that your name starts with an "A." This falls apart by the second letter since there are three numbers and this code only goes to five each. However, another pattern emerges so that every last digit of each number increases by 1. This would indicate that we shouldn't be taking the last numbers into consideration, they're just there to tell us the order."

She wrote down the new code: 1 12 5 11.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.  
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.

( **AN: This is lined up how she's writing it, but this is the best I can do on this site** )

"Well, would you look at that? 1, 12, 5, 11 - A, L, E, K. Simple. But why's your name spelled with a "K?" Where'd you get this? Is it some kind of code where you need to find the name of the person who gave it to you, or is the person who gave it to you trying to tell you to find an "Alek" with their name spelled with a "K?"

"I know who gave it to me, and I told him that my name was "Alek" with a "K." This first part served a double purpose of addressing me as well as giving us the pattern of the code that we need."

"Okay then. To the next part. 61 152 143 54 # 51 52 53 04 15 46 27 98 19 310. If we follow the same pattern we did with the last one, we have to take off the final number of each of these, and it looks like they do the same thing as the first - the last number just counting up in order. The final one we're going to take an entire 10 off, since that's two digits, but it's still the number in numerical order."

She wrote down 6 15 14 5.

"So if we follow the number stuff from before, that means that this would be…F…O…N…E?"

"Fon-E? Like the Roman version of Satyr, Faun? Phony - as in fraudulent?"

"Whatever. Let's just move on to the next."

She wrote down the final and longest bit. 5, 5, 5, 0, 1, 4, 2, 9, 1, 3

"Um…E, E, E, nothing - maybe space - A, D, B, I, A, C/K? An anagram? No, those second numbers indicate that this is the order they're in…"

Shu chuckled. "Oh my gosh."

"What?"

She giggled. "It's a phone number, dumb-dumb. FONE is just a funny and code way of saying 'Phone' since apparently it was meant to be a little challenging for those who didn't understand. The pound symbol also means 'Number' - and hashtag, but that's not necessary here. The code basically says 'Alek, here's my phone number.' It's not very hard, but I doubt that any other high schooler is willing to solve this, and any nerd who does probably thinks that this is the phone number of some guy named "Alek" with a "K." If you text the number and ask the name of the person who gave the code to you, maybe it will prove that it was you who solved it and if someone else solved it, they'll probably type "Alek" instead so the recipient will know when it's you. Unless someone else knows the guy's number by heart, but this is high school. Kids don't even know their _own_ numbers, let alone their friends'."

"Pretty smart," Alec admitted.

"How'd you get the code, anyway?"

"It was written on my desk by this guy I've been chatting too for a while. Magnus."

"Magnus _Bane?_ "

Alec shrugged. "Don't know. He never gave his last name."

Shu chuckled. "Well, have fun with that Alec. See you in Calc!"

* * *

" _Need it again?_ "

The code was now fully erased, not a hard feat considering the smooth desks that didn't cling to the graphite like paper would where you could write as light as you wanted but there'd still be a mark.

Alec smiled and proudly wrote, " _I got it. After school._ "

He decided that it'd be best to text the number when he went home and had plenty of time. He knew that his nerves wouldn't settle down if he started texting and then got interrupted by the bell and had to wait in anxiousness until he got out of the no-cell-phone classes.

* * *

' _Magnus?_ ' Alec texted to the new number.

He felt butterflies in his stomach, hoping that he'd gotten this right.

' _It's Alek,'_ He added quickly so that there wasn't any confusion.

He paced around his bedroom waiting for the ding and buzz from his phone for the response. He knew that he must've looked like a bit of an idiot, getting all nervous like he was texting the guy he was about to ask to prom. Sure, he was homosexual, but that didn't mean that every guy he talked to was gonna be a potential date or anything. He'd always imagined Magnus as a 'he,' since Magnus sounded like a guy's name and he couldn't really fathom it being a girl's - both based on the name and his handwriting.

Alec opened himself to the possibility that he was wrong, but he was pretty sure. Sort of. His nerves were causing his confidence to waver. This should be easy and simple, right?

When the buzz and ding finally came from his phone, he practically dived for it, sitting on his bed. He just hoped that his little sister didn't see that. His door was closed, but he was still paranoid. Dammit, it was just texting a friend, and he was acting like a fool.

He looked to the message and felt delight as he read it.

' ** _Magnus from 7th here. Hi Alek._** '

Alec was considering a way to respond, but Magnus beat him to it with a second response.

' ** _I see you figured out my riddle. A lot sooner than I expected. Not that I'm complaining._** '

' _I got a little help from my friend Shu,_ ' He admitted.

A smiling emoji popped up. ' ** _That explains it._** '

Alec typed his response, but Magnus was quick.

' ** _Not that I'm saying you couldn't do it without her, of course._** '

' _Of course._ '

He realized that Magnus had addressed Shu as a 'her' even though he hadn't suggested her gender. He supposed that Shu sounded like a girl's name, but jumping to conclusions in the modern day was something he was familiar with. Nice people - who he figured Magnus was - usually tended to avoid assuming things until they had confirmation. He also remembered that Shu had suggested that she knew which Magnus he was talking to.

' _Is your last name Bane?_ '

' ** _Yup._** '

' _So you two know each other?_ '

' ** _Yeah, since we were little. She and I drive to school together every morning._** '

' _How have we never met?_ '

' ** _The answer to everything: plot convenience._** '

Alec smiled and gave an emoji to represent his feelings.

Alec typed something that he wanted to say, but hesitated, his finger hovering over the 'Send' button. By the Angel, it was cheesy and probably super embarrassing. He hadn't even met Magnus in person yet. But it was just a casual remark. Alec took a deep breath and reassured himself, pushing 'Send' before he could stop himself.

' _I like talking with you._ '

"Alec, dinner!" Izzy shouted from the hall.

He quickly locked his phone, terrified of what his little sister might say. The rational part of his brain realized that he shouldn't be so concerned, that showing his nervousness was the thing that was going to make Izzy suspicious in the first place. He could just say it was a friend from school - it wasn't like he didn't already text friends, he wasn't anti-social or anything. He hadn't met Magnus in person, but he was still a friend, he was! It's not like-

Wait, why was he having a mental argument with himself over this?

He rushed to the door and opened it before Izzy could start pounding on it. "I'm coming!"

He followed his sister to the kitchen, leaving his phone on his nightstand. He closed the door behind him and was halfway down the hall, missing the reply that came.

' ** _I like talking with you too. I wanna meet you in person sometime._** '

* * *

' ** _Alek? You there?_** '

' ** _Hello?_** '

' ** _Drop your phone in the toilet?_** '

' ** _Phone ran out of battery?_** '

' ** _Are you dead in a ditch? Answer me!_** '

' ** _At least tell me if you're dead or not, please_** '

' ** _I must know what has happened to cause your absence! I shall not stop bugging you until you respond!_** '

' ** _Alek!_** '

 _' **Alek?**_ '

' ** _Alek_** '

' ** _Alek_** '

' ** _Alek_** '

' ** _Respond_** '

' ** _YOOOOO!_** '

' ** _It's Magnus! I'm still here!_** '

' ** _Earth to Alek_** '

' ** _Alek of 4th English, do you copy?_** '

' ** _Alek, I'm sad, pathetic, and alone, please help me!_** '

' ** _I've gotta go to sleep now, but we shall continue this in the morning!_** '

Alek smiled as he saw the tons of texts he'd gotten since he'd left. He got the gist of it after the first couple dozen, realizing from the scroll bar that Magnus was determined to say the least. He didn't bother going back up to the top, and he figured that responding at this hour would probably prompt another few hours of conversation, so he opted to wait until morning.

After dinner, he had helped Izzy with her science project where she had to make a rollercoaster for a marble ("It's not a marble, Alec, it's a metal ball bearing.") out of some tubing. They had decided to use some small Styrofoam tubes that they cut in half and wooden dowels. Izzy was concerned because her teacher had been very strict on the measurements that she had to keep the coaster within, and Alec had to admit that it seemed a little unfair. She needed a loop, three hills, and it needed to last at least 30 seconds if she wanted a top score.

She had been stressed over it, trying to make it work, but finding that it was near impossible to get the momentum for the ball bearing to make it through a loop within the height restrictions she had been given.

"Maybe we should've made it out of something smaller than this tubing," Alec suggested.

"We don't _have_ anything smaller!"

Izzy was stressed out at that point, having been working for hours with tape and glue, pulling the thing apart every time it didn't work and getting more and more frustrated.

"I hate this stupid project! I bet rocket science is nothing compared to this dumb thing!"

"Hey, we can go look for more stuff tomorrow, okay? Maybe we can make the design even simpler."

She sighed, grabbing a pillow from the couch and screaming into it. When she was finally done, she chucked the pillow at the couch and stomped off to her room. Alec knew that going to be while angry was hard and stressful when you couldn't go to sleep feeling like you'd accomplished _something_ , but they needed a break, and a day's sleep would help her calm down and rejuvenate her. Hopefully.

In their family, leaving a puzzle unsolved was physically painful. It wasn't because their parents had raised them that way, although they did praise them for it. It was simply because they grew up realizing that getting it over with was the easiest way to go about your life. Right now, they both agreed that getting this project over with was the only way they'd be able to fully calm their nerves.

Alec had stayed up an hour later, finally figuring out a way to make the loop work by putting it at the beginning. He measured out the drop needed to make the loop by the millimeter, also making the loop as small as the requirements demanded. He was extremely careful as he used one hand to keep the thing in place and then tape it down. He tested it after he had stuck it into place on the dowels and it still worked.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The challenge was far from over, but at least now he could go to bed feeling like he'd gotten something done, and he'd be able to inform Izzy of the accomplishment.

When he went to her room, as expected, she was still tossing and turning in bed. When he reported his accomplishment, he could see Izzy taking a deep breath in some relief. He knew his sister, and she would be able to sleep just a little easier at the very least.

When he was finally ready to go to bed, he moved to charge his phone for the night before seeing the spam of text messages.

Unfortunately, he was too tired and thought he had everything that he needed to know, so he missed the first message that Alec had been absent for.

* * *

' ** _Mr. Shadowhunter? You awake?_** '

' _ **Alek, unless you have first off, you can at least say hello in the morning.**_ '

' ** _But if you have first off I am so jealous and will hate you forever!_** '

' ** _At least until the day you don't have first off next year._** '

' ** _But if you have first off two years in a row,_ then _I shall hate you forever!_** '

' ** _I am determined now, you shall answer me._** '

' ** _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!_** '

' _Alek here, eating breakfast._ '

' ** _Finally! Where were you?_** '

' _Helping my sister with a project. Frustrating as ever._ '

' ** _Sister?_** '

' _Little sister, Izzy. You eating breakfast?_ '

' ** _Yup. Shu says 'Hi.' And that we could meet up before school starts._** '

' _When do you get there?_ '

' ** _When do you?_** '

' _A few minutes before first bell. I have to drop off my sister at her middle school a small ways away. Speaking of which, gotta get going now._ '

' ** _When's your lunch hour?_** '

' _5th._ '

' ** _Dang, I'm 6th._** '

' _We can meet each other sometime. There's no rush._ '

His phone was silent for so long that Alec nearly thought Magnus was gone. It was only once he'd gotten in the car that he felt it buzz in his pocket.

' ** _Right._** '

* * *

" _My sister says she helped a friend named "Alec" solve a code earlier today. I wonder_ _…_ "

Alec realized that Magnus had written this before Alec had texted him last night. It occurred to him that Shu had to have been Magnus's sister - Shu had been the one to help Alec crack the code yesterday. That was what the message was saying, right? Shu had a brother?! How had he not known this before? He would have to ask her about this later.

For now, he figured he'd might as well answer.

" _Guilty as charged. I'm with a "C." Mad?_ "

* * *

"So you're Magnus's sister?"

"Yeah," Shu said, writing down the next question on her graph paper. "Technically."

"You don't even have the same last name!"

"We have different moms. Our dad…got around, you know? He left my mom first, and she was…unstable. Eventually, she died, and I found out that I technically had another family. A man named Kandai adopted me, but when we found out about Magnus…his mother had committed suicide. Apparently our dad had a habit of leaving women in the dust to suffer forever. Anyway, my new dad offered to adopt Magnus too, and so we live together, but Magnus kept his mother's last name."

"How have we never met before?"

"Magnus has different classes than me, but I could only say that it was bad luck for you. Any time that I offered you a ride home was when Magnus got a ride from a friend in return. I mean, let's be honest. There are hundreds of kids in our grade alone, and you've probably seen Magnus but you never paid much attention to him."

"What's he look like?"

"Uh, Asian is the simplest way to say it, I guess. His mother was half-Dutch, half-Indonesian, but he's got the almond eyes like me. Skin color's brown, hair covered with gel and glitter, more makeup than most girls including eyeshadow with the occasional sparkles, painted nails, lipstick, and he dressed in flamboyant and glitzy ensembles - call them strange, call them unique."

Alec tried to imagine the person that he'd been messaging with looking like some kind of party-boy, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He imagined one of those goth kind of guys with tons of makeup and fancy outfits. Somehow, that didn't sound like the kind of guy that would nerd over the same things as him.

"We can meet you after school before we leave, if you want," Shu offered.

"Uh…I kinda have to hurry off to pick up Izzy after school. She wants me to be there early so that we can quickly get out of there and pick up some new stuff for her science project."

It wasn't exactly a lie, considering that he knew that Izzy had truthfully requested (demanded) that he make it there as soon as she got out of school so that they could get to the store. He understood how frustrating the project was to Izzy, and felt his own need to get started on finding another way to make the stupid thing work. He was admittedly nervous about meeting Magnus from Shu's - probably exaggerated - description as well as Alec's overactive and over-reactive imagination.

"No problem. We'll get you two together at _some_ point."

"Yeah, right…"

"Did you get pi over six for b?"

Alec suddenly realized that Shu had somehow been _working_ while talking and was now two questions ahead of him. "I'm working on it."

* * *

"Alec!"

Shu came running up to him as he tossed his backpack into the back of his car. He and Izzy had come to the agreement that Izzy could ride in the front seat since she was in third-grade, and the moment that Alec was old enough and had his license for long enough that he could have passengers younger than the age of 40 - aka their parents - she had made it clear that she was passenger-seat worthy. The rule was that people sat in the front and backpacks in the back.

Shu came hurrying up, probably having run from the other side of the school to the parking lot considering she had told him that was where her final class was. She leaned on her knees as she panted and caught her breath, before standing and getting her message out.

"Hey, glad I…caught you. Magnus said he could meet us in the parking lot right after school so he could meet you since he couldn't wait."

"Um…that's great, but I told you I have to hurry or Izzy's going to have my head."

"There he is!"

Alec looked where she was staring, but he couldn't really tell where she was trying to refer to in the crowds of kids attempting to escape the school as soon as possible - and who could blame them? Shu jumped up and down to get Magnus's attention to show where she was, but she got the attention of everyone since when people hear noises they always involuntarily look in that direction, so Alec was just as clueless as before.

He saw the (normally?) dressed eccentric teenagers, but even the ones that he thought _might_ be Magnus didn't get a reaction out of Shu.

"Hurry up, Mags!" Shu shouted, before a boy finally seemed to be coming towards them.

As he got closer, Alec took in the details of Magnus. He wasn't particularly what Alec had expected, although Alec really didn't know _what_ he had expected. Magnus was wearing a particularly sparkly jacket and dress pants like he was going to a rave - or possibly doing a presentation, considering that it was a requirement for kids to dress up in fancy clothes for certain speeches, tuxes and suits for men with varying degrees of ties, jackets and shirts. His hair was spiked up with hair gel, his eyes surrounded with the sparkles of glitter along with the makeup that Shu had mentioned.

It wasn't as in-your-face as Alec had imagined based on Shu's description. His attire was simpler than the crazy that was possible in this world - especially in high school - yet it still stuck out. He had multiple rings and earrings, but no other visible piercings. Magnus's sleeves were rolled up, showing his slightly tanned skin, his nails were black with sparkles reminded Alec of stars in the sky, and as Magnus grew closer, Alec also noticed that Magnus's hair had light sparkles as well. It might've sounded like a lot of glitter, but it worked pretty well. Alec found he couldn't tear his eyes away, for better or worst.

"I'm coming, Shu. I came as fast as I could! It's not my fault if Camille decided that today was the proper time to get into a smack-talk challenge with the teacher and have him hold us back after the bell rang."

"Was it bad this time?"

"Not really. Remember that one time she insulted the World History teacher and she held us all back for an hour after school?"

"I can't believe that's even legal," Shu muttered. "Anyway, this is Alec."

Magnus looked to Alec and held out his hand. "Short for Alexander, I assume?"

Alec struggled to find his voice, realize that Magnus was holding his hand out for a reason, and that Alec actually had to respond by shaking his hand. It took Alec an extra moment to learn how to control his hand and arm again.

"Uh, y-yeah. But I just go by Alec."

Alec took Magnus's hand and shook it, just noticing that Magnus was taller than him. It was only by a couple inches, but Alec had, for some reason, expected him to be at his height or shorter - which was kinda dumb, considering there were plenty of guys at school that were taller than him. He was just happy that he had broken six feet. The most embarrassing thing was that Shu was actually an inch taller than him at six foot one, taller than most of the girls around her, if not all of them in the school that Alec had seen so far. He just hoped that he himself still had a few more inches to squeak out, even though it was unlikely. Magnus was still taller than Shu just barely, not including the three extra inches of spiked hair.

As they shook hands, Magnus gave a gentle smile, and Alec couldn't help but let a smile creep across his face too. He felt comfortable meeting Magnus, already thinking that he would be a good friend.

"So…you're Magnus?"

Alec was at a loss of what to say. It was just a casual meeting of friends, right? It certainly didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was getting slightly distracted while he stared at Magnus's face. Nope.

"The one and only Magnus Bane," He declared happily. "So, I hear your sister's doing a roller coaster project. I had to do one of those in middle school. I won the prize for the best-looking coaster."

"I won for longest time that I kept the ball bearing moving," Shu said. "It required a bowl, but it worked."

Her phone buzzed, and as she pulled it out and read it, she seemed to perk up. "Charon, Ragnor, Raphael, Will, Jem, Caterina, and Tessa need a ride to a party. You can take Magnus home, right Alec? Thanks, see you!"

She ran off through the crowds and disappeared, leaving even Magnus surprised at the sudden departure.

"Uh, can I get a ride?"

Alec felt a moment of panic. What the hell was his friend doing?

"I…sure, but I've gotta go shopping with my sister for parts for the roller coaster when I pick her up, so…"

"Oh, I don't mind. I'll bet I can help out, if you'd be okay with that."

"Um…s-sure?"

Alec had never done something like this before. It wasn't that Alec was necessarily anti-social, but Shu had just plopped a stranger next to him and told him to allow him into his life - namely his car and meeting his sister. But then again, was he _really_ a stranger? Alec had been talking with Magnus for ages now, and he _was_ Shu's brother, someone who he had known for years and learned long ago to trust.

So Alec allowed Magnus into the car and drove over to Izzy's school. Her school day ended at 3:45, while his ended at 3:00. Of course, just like any other school, parking was hell if they didn't get there as early as possible, and it took Alec, at the very least, seven minutes to get to her school with good traffic, ten minutes was more average.

"So, I guess that I've solved the question of what happens when Shu asks me to go out for a night. Not that I don't already go to plenty of parties anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"She says she's always worried about me meeting her friends, and so she specifically seems to have been the cause of our lack of meeting."

"Well, you're not that bad. I don't see why she wouldn't like you to meet her friends. Seems like you'd be the life of a party."

"Oh, trust me, I am. I've wondered why she seems to think I'll embarrass her too. I mean, I'd say that I'm quite charming."

Alec chuckled. "Well, you've mastered the act of drawing attention without being an eyesore. You look cool."

"You don't look too bad yourself. You're cuter than I imagined."

Alec felt heat surge through him and his stomach knot. "Uh…c-cool."

They turned down the street to the school and Alec turned the car around before parking. "Izzy said that she'd meet us down the street so that we wouldn't get caught in the traffic," He explained.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:31 - still another 15 minutes before Izzy got out and another five to ten for her to get to the car. Alec parked the car and killed the engine to save the gas and the battery, sighing and sitting back.

"How long will we wait?" Magnus asked.

Alec jumped, nearly forgetting that Magnus was even in the car. He wasn't sure when he forgot, but his nerves seemed to be against him - probably making him go crazy.

"I-I'd guess half an hour."

Magnus chuckled. "Shu said you had to leave early to get here."

"I did! See the cars on this street? They aren't just cars from the people who live here, they're people who've arrived early from the parking chaos. If we'd gotten closer to the school, you'd see that streets are at least 70% full right now. Usually, people have to get here, like, an hour early to be able to choose the parking."

"If people come earlier and earlier to arrive here on time, it seems like that's going to end up with people just never leaving in the morning."

Alec chuckled. "Yeah. Why they think it's a good idea to have schools in the middle of neighborhoods with cramped streets and up to three exits at maximum is beyond me."

Magnus sighed and leaned back in his seat, shifting to get comfortable. "So, what do you usually do when you're not going shopping for a roller coaster?"

"Nothing much. I go home and work on my homework, probably nerd out over my books and TV shows with my family."

"Any other friends besides Shu?"

"Sure, but not many that I bring over on an average basis. There _is_ my neighbor Jace who's practically my adoptive brother, but ever since he discovered girls, well…you know."

"What about you? All high school kids have interests trying to find relationships."

"Not really. Love is kinda hard for someone who's…"

He cut himself off instinctively. He didn't necessarily _intend_ to be closeted about his sexuality, but it happened as he learned how different it made him from everyone around him. He became concerned about sticking out, worried that he would draw the attention of his parents. His parents weren't very present in their kids' lives, never talking during the car rides to school and back before Alec could drive or take Izzy to school, and they didn't do that very often either, mostly just hiring babysitters. They were rarely around the house and didn't talk much with him or Izzy when they _were_ in the same room. It made them into a type of ethereal beings to Alec, and he felt afraid that if he did anything to stand out and draw their attention it would be awkward, even scary. He figured it was safest to just keep his distance. It had worked out well enough so far.

"Who's what?" Magnus asked, and Alec forgot that he'd stopped half way through his sentence.

"Y-You know. Just an unpopular, nerdy, nobody like me. I'm not really a partying kind of person, and I guess I've just never been able to trust that relationships in high school are going to work out, so why even try in the first place? And it's not like anyone's asking me out or anything, so I just stay out of that whole song and dance."

Magnus chuckled. "So you've never been on a date before?"

"Not really."

"Well…what do you think you'd like to do for a date, then? I'm guessing not the classic dinner or amusement park."

Alec shrugged. "Don't know. Just a quiet evening doing something we both like, I guess. For me, that's probably nerding out over Shadowhunter stuff. I miss the old days when me, Izzy, Jace, and occasionally some of our other friends would play out like we were Shadowhunters. Jace and I decided we'd be parabatai. We pretend to be fighting demons, sometimes acting as though we were reenacting the actual cannon events and sometimes creating adventures of our own." He laughed. "We once convinced Jace to let us tie him to a tree since he was 'kidnapped' and then left him until our parents came home and demanded he was released. I miss those days."

Magnus laughed. "Me and my friends would prefer to be Downworlders. Luke thought he wanted to be a Shadowhunter at first, but then changed his mind and became a Werewolf instead. Cat, Tess, Rag, and I would be Warlocks, Raphael, and his posse liked to be Vampires, Meliorn even joined in and said he'd make a good Seelie."

" _That_ I can agree with. He's a year younger than me and I can never tell his angle sometimes."

" _Sometimes?_ I can _never_ tell what's going through his head."

"Izzy once said that she _liked_ him. Honesty, I don't know what's going through her brain. I guess she and Mel are only a year apart, but…I don't know, she feels too young to be even _thinking_ about dating."

"Shu and I get along pretty well - we can practically read each other's minds. We'd always pretend to be mixing potions and going 'Whoosh!' as we pretended to use magic."

"Being a kid was fun."

"Who says you ever had to stop?"

"Life."

"Oh, life is just a big bully. Look at me. I'm still being who I _want_ to be. Who gives a damn what life thinks? It's not like I'm saying 'Screw you' to _all_ the rules, but I've promised myself that I won't change who I am just to conform to society. In this day and age, we can be whoever we want, and I'm not gonna let that opportunity go to waste. I'm not gonna be ashamed with the clothes I wear, the way I act, the makeup or jewelry. I'm bisexual. So what? No one gives a damn, and if they do, that's their problem, not mine."

"Bisexual?"

"Yeah, I like _both_ genders. It's _so_ shocking," He said sarcastically. "You're…not against that, are you?"

"No, no! It's fine."

Magnus gave a skeptical look, and Alec felt the urge to admit his homosexuality to him. Of course, he'd grown accustomed to biting his tongue all his life, and he knew that telling someone usually just made them treat him differently, coming back to bite him in the arse eventually. There were no such things as exceptions to that rule. Then again, he didn't meet a lot of other people who admit their own sexuality so openly. After everything Magnus had said about _himself_ , he definitely wouldn't be one of those guys that suddenly treated him like he was some kind of alien when they talked or interacted with each other, right?

He opened his mouth, ready to force out the simple sentence, but he'd hesitated in his thoughts too long, and Magnus was already moving on, trying to get off the topic.

"You ever gone to a bar or anything? Party? Alcohol? I mean, you don't seem the type, but…"

"No," Alec said. "I've just been afraid of what I'll do if I go overboard, and considering how little I trust my friends, I'll try and avoid taking _any_ advice from them. You? No offense, but you _do_ see the type."

He chuckled. "I give off that impression, don't I?"

"Answering a question with a question. That's an evasion."

Magnus gave a look that Alec couldn't decipher, but it was either an annoyed 'smart ass' face, or an alluring 'I like you already' glance. "You're right, but doesn't that give you the answer right there?"

Magnus picked at his black nail with a condescending smile. Alec had to admit that Magnus's response did make his point obvious without actually saying it.

"So…you've done that kind of thing?"

"Just a little. Nothing overboard, though. I know when enough is enough, and I have a reputation to uphold."

Alec chuckled. "I'd assume so."

* * *

"Sorry, Magnus, but rules are rules."

"Shu was the one who kicked me to the curb," Magnus protested. "Not that being stuck getting a ride in the back isn't nice. I can lie down all on my own."

"We get into a crash, and I shall mourn your unbuckled and dead self," Izzy called from the passenger seat.

"Well, he's going to survive the next half an hour, since we're here," Alec announced, pulling into the parking lot.

He parked and they all got out, Izzy rushing ahead and down the aisles and looking for what she might need. She grabbed some more dowels after they'd broken most of them to make them shorter so that they could start again with longer ones, and Magnus suggested glitter and glue for the decorating party. Alec laughed, but found that it couldn't hurt. Besides, he assumed Magnus was pretty decent at decorating. And if Magnus was paying for whatever he got, it didn't concern Alec.

He bought a couple of other things that he said might come in handy too, while Izzy contemplated what she thought might be useful. She bought one of those large Styrofoam things that went into making houses. They got the smallest one possible, but it was still pretty big. At least they could fit it in the car.

Alec unconsciously took Magnus home with them without thinking about if Magnus had anything else to do, or even if their parents were okay with one of Alec's friends - who he'd just met in person that afternoon - could be invited into their house. He considered what to do, but Izzy and Magnus were already discussing ways to fix the roller coaster they'd made and Magnus was offering things from his experience, as well as Shu's.

Alec sighed, coming up with an excuse for if their parents came home and questioned Magnus, editing in his head the entire way home as he imagined what his parents might do if they disapproved of Magnus. Izzy seemed to have been instantly fond of Magnus, and Alec couldn't really seem to find anything that he disliked about the eccentric and kind man. Still, he was disconnected from his parents, and they seemed like the kind of dictators of the house that wouldn't approve of any strangers whose visit hadn't been scheduled a week in advance. Even if his parents acted like they were okay with it, Alec knew that they would give those faces with deep sighs that said 'You are going to get a year-long lecture about this, young man.'

Alec pushed the inevitable doom to the back of his mind - like he did with most tests for school - and figured that he might as well bring Magnus home. Izzy needed him for the project, since Magnus was much better at helping than Alec was, and if Magnus wanted to go home, he'd just say the word and Alec would take him.

* * *

"I need one more hill!" Izzy exclaimed, though it was hard to tell whether she was excited or agitated.

Magnus had come up with the idea of using some of the thick paper-ish stuff he bought - kinda like that cardboard stuff that you find inside of the larger rectangular Tootsie Rolls. He cut and bent it into thinner shapes, bending them so that they created a track that was sturdy enough for the ball bearing while also easy to manipulate - all they had to do was cut out the pieces and use bent tacks like train-car couplings to allow the parts to swivel and turn. The dowels were placed strategically to hold up the thing, and Magnus had managed to add in the loop and two little hills along the way (albeit they had had the issue of the ball bearing soaring clear off the hills because of its momentum like it was a ramp).

After hours of working, gluing, taping, cutting, tacking, and manipulating, they had finally made it to the bottom of the coaster with the track working up until there.

"No problem," Magnus said. "The ball should have proper momentum to get over one if we just…"

He looked around and grabbed one of the Styrofoam blocks they had lying around, having cut out a new base for the coaster with the giant board they'd bought and used the extra stuff to create some pillars where the dowels weren't sturdy enough. They had cut out tons of cubes - which was a challenge in it of itself considering how thick and tough the Styrofoam was - and had a lot of those flakes decorating the carpet as a consequence.

Magnus set the cube on the base and moved the track over it as a final hill. He held it in place as Alec dropped the ball into the track a little ways back, and the bearing rolled smoothly over. Izzy measured the hill, and it was just over the required height.

They quickly glued things into place, and Izzy sighed in relief, collapsing on the floor. "I'm done with this thing! Finally!"

"Well, it still looks like a construction project," Magnus pointed out. "The wood, the Styrofoam, the obvious glue and tape. Don't you wanna decorate it?"

"Not today…!" She drawled. "I'm done! Just done! Just don't turn it into an embarrassing mess and you can do whatever you want to decorate it!"

She dragged herself up and went to the kitchen, moving to make herself a TV dinner. Alec realized that the sun had gone down and their parents hadn't returned yet. It wasn't uncommon for them to have late work nights, but he realized how late it had gotten.

"Challenge accepted…" Magnus muttered, reaching for his shopping bag.

"Don't you need to go home?" Alec asked. "Aren't your parents or Shu worried about where you are?"

He shook his head, taking out a bottle of glue and a bottle of glitter. "Nah. Shu knows that I stay out, and our dad is generous. He knows we can handle ourselves. The agreement is that we have to be back by the next day to report in - without any emergencies requiring the police or getting arrested, and we can stay out as long as we need. We've obviously got curfews on school days, but that's not for hours still. Besides, why would I pass up the opportunity to do my thing?"

He started decorating the coaster, first focusing on the obviously ugly parts where glue was sticking out, tape was haphazardly placed, and where the print on the base of the Styrofoam board was.

"What about your mom?" Alec asked.

Magnus froze for a moment, visibly trying to hide his flinch, before he went back to work, his movements more smooth and forced than his eager and flashy mood just a moment before.

"She died, I don't have one anymore."

Alec mentally punched himself in the face. That was obviously the wrong thing to ask. In the moment, he'd just wanted to ask about his _adoptive_ mom! He didn't even consider that Magnus might take that the wrong way, especially considering that Shu had never told him about _having_ an adoptive mom. Dammit, this was the _wrong_ time to not pay attention to details.

"Oh…sorry, I meant…Shu said you were adopted, so…"

"Only by one man, he isn't married. He's dating this guy, so…I don't think I'm gonna have a mom any time soon."

Alec wasn't sure what he could say to make things better, but Magnus seemed to understand that and tried to continue.

"Not that I really need a mom. Shu's got more than enough feminine influence, more than I can handle in our house."

Alec chuckled weakly. "What about you?"

"What are you talking about? I am the very definition of masculine!"

He gave a pretend-offended face that was greatly exaggerated, and Alec broke into laughter. "My mistake."

"Well, you better learn from your lesson. Now, I've got more glitter if you wanna help."

* * *

The two of them got to working on decorating the coaster, Magnus taking over most of the work and Alec really there for moral support. And it seemed Magnus only wanted him there to admire his abilities. Alec was fine with that, and the two of them had a great time chatting to each other about little things as they worked, Magnus probably able to do the job blindfolded, his hands on auto-pilot.

"I mean, I like to think that there are other things out there, but that must make me sound crazy," Alec rambled.

He realized that he was being more open to Magnus than he'd ever been to any of his friends, even Shu. Perhaps it was the fact that Magnus felt like a stranger, a new person who hadn't had the chance to get the image of the serious Alec that usually came across to most new people he met. He hadn't met Magnus during class where he was diving head-first into the work to avoid talking to other people; he hadn't met Magnus while he was trying to make a great impression and ended up coming off as the complete opposite of who he really was and how he really felt; and he hadn't met Magnus when he was just too tired of the world to care whether he talked to him or not.

"I guess it's normal to want to have a different life than the one you have - that those people that we idolize in movies and books would probably give anything to trade places with us - but you can't help but want to be there, have those cool powers, have those friends and family."

"Then again, dealing with the Shadowhunter community might seem a bit annoying when they're threatening you to do as they say or die all the time," Magnus said, not taking his eyes off the project.

Alec noticed how he got when he was into his art. His fingers moved in a choreographed dance, adding touches of paint, glitter, feathers that he had apparently bought while Alec wasn't looking, and all looking pretty well together. If Alec had been given all these random - and quite honestly crazy - items and was ordered to make an art project out of Izzy's coaster, he'd probably make a hot-mess that would have Izzy putting him six feet under.

Alec helped out a little by making flags out of the duck tape and dowels before passing them to Magnus to be properly decorated. He felt like he'd contributed.

"Maybe, but you'd have cool rune powers. Everything from stamina, to bravery, to flexibility, invisibility, defensive blocking, maybe those runes that make your opponent just plain miss you no matter how hard they try to fight. Then there's that 'Fearless' rune that the girl makes."

"Yeah, but he nearly makes our favorite Shadowhunter admit his sexuality to his homophobic parents. Stuff like that can be a really sensitive thing. Fearlessness can be bad, you know."

Alec nodded. "Believe me, I know. But our favorite Warlock stops him because he knows that."

Alec didn't know when Magnus had started calling his favorite character both of their favorite Shadowhunter, but Alec felt a surge of joy bubbling through him. He liked having something between him and Magnus. They had barely met, but in reality, they knew each other pretty well just from their messages.

And to think, if Alec hadn't written that one word 'Hello' to Magnus's 'Hi,' he might've never made such a great friend.

"Hey, you've convinced me. The High Warlock of Brooklyn is my favorite Warlock. Then again, _you'd_ probably be my favorite Warlock."

"All hail the new High Warlock of Brooklyn: Magnus Bane!"

They laughed together, and Magnus put one of the final flags up.

"So, what do you think?"

"It looks awesome. Izzy's gonna love it."

Magnus looked at the watch (sparkly as the rest of him) on his wrist before jumping up. "Shit! Shu's gonna think I'm having sex with you!"

Alec felt the heat rising to his cheeks. "What?!"

"It's already 11 PM!"

He gathered his bag of stuff, shoving the items remaining in as fast as he could before snatching up his jacket (when had he taken that off again?) and bolting to the door.

"We need to get home or I won't hear the end of it from her!"

Alec chuckled. Yeah, Shu sounded like someone who'd be like that, especially if she was your sister. Alec followed him to the door and out to the garage. He called to Izzy that he was taking Magnus home and got a quick "Tell him to come over more often!" before she went back to binging Netflix while their parents were away and Alec was otherwise distracted. It wasn't like Alec and Izzy didn't enjoy watching the same things, but not worrying about what someone else wanted to watch was very nice.

Alec walked Magnus to the door as they tried finishing their conversation about which rune was the most useful for a Shadowhunter.

"You wanna hang out tomorrow?" Magnus asked. "We should confront my sister together about how she's failed to introduce us before."

"No doubt. See you tomorrow, then."

The two of them smiled at each other, but neither really wanted to end the conversation. Finally, there was a banging at the door that startled them both and the door opened to reveal Shu. "There you are, Mags. Papa made dinner for you if you want it!"

"I, uh…I'll see you," Alec said quickly.

"Yeah," Magnus responded with a nod.

The two of them laughed awkwardly before Alec managed to get his legs working to turn and walk off. Alec managed to make it to his car - Magnus and Shu retreated inside the house - before he took his seat and dropped his head against the steering wheel with a heavy sigh. That went well.

Time to go die of embarrassment on his bed.

* * *

" _So Alec's short_ _for Alexander? In that case, you really should be Alex._ "

Alec chuckled. " _We've had that debate before. It's weird, but I've never been Alex._ "

* * *

" _Alexander's cool tho'. I like it more._ "

" _That makes one of us._ "

* * *

' ** _Alexander help me! Calculus is evil! Why do tests have to happen on Mondays?! It haunts my entire weekend, looming over me and telling me to study when I shouldn't have to!_** '

' _I can come over after school to help you today, but I've gotta look after Izzy._ '

' ** _Shu can entertain her if you bring her over too._** '

' _She says she's up for it. See you this afternoon._ '

* * *

They had developed a routine after that, the pairs of siblings going to each other's houses after school to hang out. The girls had the lower floor while the boys had the top one at Magnus and Shu's house (since their house was cool and on a hill where both floors could technically be called the main floor). They sometimes came together, but Alec found himself wanting more time alone with Magnus, whether they were playing games, watching TV, or doing homework/studying.

Other friends often came over too, but even Magnus seemed to like the time when it was just him and Alec. At least, Alec liked to believe so.

Alec found himself attached to Magnus's flamboyant outfits, sparkles everywhere sparkles could exist, his infinite energy and bright personality, the cheerful attitude that made it so he never ran out of things to say, and his seemingly indefatigable tolerance of Alec's unworthiness. ( **AN: See that, English teacher? I can (attempt) to use those vocab words you teach me. I probably failed though…** )

Alec now saw the rest of the world as dull when he compared it to looking at Magnus - and he may or may not have been doing a lot of staring at Magnus these days. He had never done any drugs, and yet he felt like he was going through withdrawal each time Magnus left, leaving him sitting in his bedroom listening to the lonely sound of his clock ticking on the wall.

He thought about Magnus's face, decorated with makeup that only he could make look so innate and amazing on him. His hair was sparkly and spiked up, and though Alec had always thought that looked weird on others, on Magnus it was just so natural. Magnus was unique, and Alec couldn't seem to find a flaw in any part of him. His outfits never seemed to have any flaws or little blemishes, and though Alec wasn't one for wearing stuff nearly as complex himself, he liked seeing the new combinations of outfits he came up with. Alec had yet to find one that he didn't like.

Honestly, how was Alec to compete with this absolutely perfect man? He was so bland and antisocial compared to Magnus - a shy and reserved introvert compared to a bold and brave extrovert. They seemed to have developed a friendship, to Alec's surprise and delight. Magnus seemed like someone who wouldn't give someone like Alec a second thought since he was a nobody and Magnus seemed like the somebody of somebody's - at the very least within the school. How had he never noticed Magnus before? Oh yeah, it was because he was trying to purposefully avoid and ignore popular people since he knew he didn't belong in that realm.

He couldn't help but think about how nice Magnus's smile was, how Magnus seemed to brighten the mood with nothing but his presence, how Alec loved his laugh, his smile, his eyes when Magnus was fake-flirting-which-Alec-suspected-was-real-flirting-in-disguise-and-no-he-was-not-crazy. He secretly liked it when Magnus acted coy but Alec got his normal over-thinking level of worry whenever Magnus just laughed it off as his normal quirky self.

Alec wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He was kinda okay with just admiring Magnus without saying anything. Biting his tongue hadn't let him down in life so far, and if he said nothing, then he'd be able to continue silently gawking at Magnus with the ability to pretend/hope that Magnus didn't notice, and imagine that if he _did_ notice he was saying nothing for a reason. Wasn't living with teenage hormones and overcomplicated relationship(ish?) issues fun?

Ugh, when had Magnus been just a friend and not a 'I-like-you-a-little-more-than-a-friend-but-I'm-not-sure-where-we-are-because-I'm-an-insecure-sort-of-closeted-guy-who-is-too-afraid-to-say-anything-even-though-logic-says-I-should' (Whatever that was) again?

Yeah, Alec might have a problem.

* * *

"You like Starbucks?" Magnus asked, staring out the window of the car as they drove to his house after Magnus had come over for a Shadowhunters binging session.

Alec thought about it. "Well, not on an average basis. Here and there, but I've got a budget."

"How about we meet Saturday? My treat."

It occurred to Alec that he and Magnus had never gotten together outside of their houses, and rarely ever during weekends. In all honesty, he _did_ have a reason for that. He felt like a teenager trying to avoid that awkward conversation where he introduced his boyfriend to his strict don't-mess-with-me parents. Another of the reasons he avoided the drama of dating.

"I'll see what I can do, but you never know what happens when my parents come home on weekends. They either completely ignore us or make us do a ton of work as though they don't think we have lives."

Magnus shifted nervously in his seat. "Oh, uh…that's cool."

"They work in this big fancy company that Izzy and I really never care much about," Alec continued, not paying much mind to Magnus's small reaction. "But I think they want us to do the same thing as them - or at least be as responsible and apparently seek out the work so that we can look like we're cool. My little brother Max is traveling with them on their trips at this point, and I think he's become just like them - probably our parents' favorite for that reason."

"You have a little brother?"

"Yeah, he's eight. Izzy earned her freedom from our parents a couple years ago when she was 13 and I was 15. I think they were happy to be rid of us, but they love Max. Apparently he turned out right, or something."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Maybe, but it's not like it bothers Izzy or I. He takes the attention of our parents away from us and allow us to be whoever we want to be. Personally, my parents have felt like strangers all my life. Izzy's only two years younger than me, so I've never _really_ had experience being an only-child with all the attention on me, and with strict and high-standard parents like them…it's kinda a relief to think that Max is being what they want and seemingly enjoying it. Whenever he visits, he seems to be satisfied. He wants to grow up and be respected, and I can't fault him for that."

"So…your parents visit at random?"

"More like they planned to come every weekend but they just aren't reliable. I try to keep my weekends free and don't go out."

"Not even for dates?"

"I don't like to, honestly. It's not like I do the dating thing anyway. Oh, we're here."

He parked in front of their yard. Alec shut off the car and moved to get out, but Magnus was quick to unbuckle his seatbelt and hope out. "I'll be fine on my own," He declared.

Alec sensed a darker undertone in his voice, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Had Alec done something wrong? As far as he was concerned, their relationship had gone pretty well, even considering Alec's over-reactive and awkward personality. Alec was afraid that he had offended Magnus somehow. He liked Magnus, he wanted to stay his friend, and saying something stupid and leaving Magnus on a bad note that Alec didn't even understand didn't bode well.

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

He did have a moment of hesitance, as though he expected Alec to go on. Alec was frantically trying to remember any moments that had stuck out in their interactions that he might've screwed up on, but he didn't have much time, as Magnus said a quick "See ya" and shut the door. Alec considered going after him, but he didn't know what to really do. Sadly, he couldn't apologize when he didn't know what he did wrong, and he was wracking his brain trying to figure it out.

He finally sighed and decided that it was too late to do anything about it now. He'd see Magnus tomorrow, maybe.

* * *

" _What? Cakes are awesome! How dare you claim they are inferior to brownies?!_ "

Alec smiled, instantly recognizing Magnus's handwriting with barely a glance. That had been a response from last debate they had gotten into, and even with all the other answers from other students, Alec had learned to spot Magnus's handwriting in the cluster easily - especially considering how eccentric his answers usually were.

" _I can go for a middle ground of chocolate cupcakes,_ " He offered.

As Alec tried to predict what Magnus would respond with, he remembered that something had been off about Magnus the previous day. Alec was concerned about what he had done wrong. Things seemed to have been going well between them for… _months_ now. As mentioned before, the Lightwood family did _not_ like problems they couldn't solve or at least couldn't even start to comprehend.

Perhaps he could fix things through their favorite form of communication. It wasn't as instant as texts, and it wasn't face-to-face awkwardness. Alec knew that he certainly liked talking to Magnus, though now he had a proper image in his head of him. He just hoped that Magnus wasn't angry enough at him to stop sending messages.

Magnus always had something to say, after all.

* * *

" _Cool._ "

That was it. That was everything on the desk that he could find was Magnus's handwriting. By the Angel, what the hell was it?! Alec wasn't good at staring conversations, especially considering that he and Magnus had talked about basically everything that Alec _could_ start a conversation with previously. For the first time in what Alec had realized was actually _months_ , he wasn't able to write anything on the desk.

Alec had tried to meet Shu and Magnus in the parking lot after school, but Shu was alone and had informed him that Magnus got a ride from Ragnor.

"Is he avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to ask _you_ ," Shu muttered. "He seemed deflated when he came home last night. He _never_ comes home without his energy, even after the longest of raves all throughout the night. I don't know how he can handle the social nightmare that is a high school party, but he always has. Did you say something to him?"

"I don't know! How am _I_ supposed to know? I can't tell when two people are dating or broken up even when they're acting pretty blatant. When people are obvious about their emotions, I am oblivious!"

"Well, that's true. Just hurry up and figure it out. When Magnus is sulking, he sulks to the extreme that he dresses."

* * *

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing was on the desk with Magnus's handwriting. Alec, like, quattuorvigintuple checked. Did Alec really mess up _this_ badly?

He was afraid to text Magnus at this point, since he didn't want to feel the rejecting sting when Magnus could respond at any time but wouldn't for reasons Alec couldn't understand.

He thought about every awkward moment that had happened between them. It was hard to recall things to the exact detail, but at worst, he had slipped up about Magnus's mother during that first time he'd come over to help with Izzy's roller coaster (which she'd gotten an A+ on, by the way). Overall, he and Magnus seemed to have been getting along the whole time they'd known each other. Things had seemed to go downhill at the end of their last…it wasn't officially a date, so… _visits_ , and so he thought about the conversation in the car.

Magnus had asked about Starbucks, Alec had explained about his parents and about Max, how he wasn't one for going out that often…

' _Not even for dates?_ '

Alec dropped his head to the desk and wanted to bang it repeatedly. He had thought he meant any kind of special occasion - a date for something like someone's birthday party or a doctor's appointment!

Alec is an idiot.

That summarized his entire existence. It would be his yearbook quote, it would be on his resume, it would be written on his gravestone because he had died of stupidity.

He had been trying so hard to not mess anything up with Magnus, keeping a conversation going and trying to be open about himself, that he'd just kept on talking and didn't think too much about his words so that he could just be honest and not act flustered if he said something that he thought was dumb when it was just his over reactive brain.

The guy that he maybe-kinda-sorta-really liked just got told that Alec wasn't willing to date at any time. Magnus had asked him out - _that_ was what the Starbucks think had been! - and he had said no, he doesn't do that kind of thing. And Magnus had been disappointed, maybe more than disappointed, but Alec wasn't paying enough attention, trying not to look like an idiot himself. But in the end he was an incompetent dunce when it came to understanding other people - especially in the category of romance.

Magnus had liked him and had made the first move so that nervous-beyond-comprehension Alec didn't have to!

And Alec had screwed it up!

It seemed the harder he tried to get things right, the easier it was for him to _completely_ ruin everything.

He needed to fix this, dammit. This was all just a misunderstanding. He needed to explain this.

After class, he tried texting Magnus to meet him after school. He didn't get a response by the time the five minutes of passing period were over, and he waited out lunch hour, knowing Magnus would have the highest chance of checking his phone in _his_ lunch hour - 6th.

But by the end of his Calc class, Alec found no new messages.

* * *

"He's been getting a ride from alternating friends and even walking home whenever they're busy," Shu said. "He seems determined to not get a ride home with me and risk running into you."

"I know what I did and I'm an idiot!" Alec blurted.

"Well, okay then."

Alec went over everything that had happened now that he finally understood, and Shu raised an eyebrow. "So…he asked you out, trying to be casual because he was taking into account if you didn't necessarily want a relationship, but he asked you _so_ casually that you brushed it off as you auto-piloted while _you_ tried to keep your cool while talking to him?" She summarized.

"Basically. I also told him that I don't like dating. I meant that I didn't like going out in general, but in the context he accidentally took it as I don't like going out with people - as in _dating_ people - and since I don't do dating _right now_ it came off as I don't wanna date him at all."

She blinked. "Wow."

"I know."

"I'll talk to him about it. In the mean time, you find a way to ask him out like you _should_ have done a while ago. Honestly, you two have danced around each other for so long that I was concerned you'd grow old still wondering who would ask who out first."

"How'm I supposed to do that if he won't talk to me?"

"That's where I'm coming in, trying to get him to give you a chance and stop avoiding you like a lovesick idiot who just had a breakup when, in reality, he gave up _way_ too easily. In the meantime, you devise a plan, at the very least. Honestly, it's like I'm dealing with children."

"But I-"

"Look, you're shy, but if you like him, it'll be no problem. I gotta go and catch him and pick him up before he walks home and complains to me about how he's all sweaty and gross because of the long trip."

She plopped into her car and drove off, leaving Alec to sulk his way back to his car. Was this supposed to be as simple as just saying that it he'd like to take up that offer of coffee? It should be, right? But Alec wanted to make up for his incompetence _somehow_.

He took out his phone and scrolled through the pictures that they'd taken together over the months - the one time that Magnus had offered to paint some runes onto Alec with his artistic ability and giving Alec a block rune on his neck; the time that he'd given Alec one of his fancy jackets and Magnus had insisted on taking a picture despite it being too big for Alec; the one time that Shu and Izzy had joined them in playing Shadowhunters and Warlocks, everyone getting Magnus Makeovers. Izzy declared that Magnus was going to repeat what she'd done for next Halloween.

Alec scrolled through all the pictures before finding the one with the code that Magnus had written on the desk for him that had given his phone number. The first step that had made them more than just strangers writing notes on a desk.

That gave Alec an idea.

* * *

Magnus was sulking. He knew he shouldn't be sulking, but he was.

He tried to do his normal thing to get his mind off things, but it was then that he realized that he hadn't been to as many parties ever since he started hanging out with Alec every day. Usually, the thought of another party was nice to him - a chance to get into his groove with his friends, being the most party-going of all of them and being proud of it.

Now, the thought of a party just sounded dull, noise and people he didn't really care for, and those that he did didn't compare to his desire to spend time with Alexander again. Their interactions had been quiet, simple, just the two of them with the occasional extra joining in here and there, but mostly just the two of them.

He'd gotten to know the aspiring Shadowhunter, his initially shy personality slowly opening up as he got more comfortable with Magnus. When Magnus had first heard about him from Shu, he had assumed the introverted teen would be averse to interacting with Magnus's flashy personality. But through their messages, he showed that he had a fun side, and when he could be himself, he was a daredevil at heart.

But Alec was kind, struggling to find a middle ground where he could express his own personality while also conforming to make others happy - ultimately viewing others' opinions more important than his own. Magnus had gotten him out of his shell, hearing that he had a lot of thoughts swirling around in his head, just as strong an opinion as anyone else, especially with things he was passionate about.

"You're not yourself, my friend," Ragnor said.

"Gee, what clued you in?" Magnus muttered, lying on his bed while Ragnor was sitting at the desk in his room with a book.

Just like Ragnor, the aspiring professor, to have a book wherever he went. Then again, it was the Iliad. Magnus assumed he was just reading that to remind people how smart he was. He'd been reading that thing for a solid month, and Magnus was convinced that he'd completed that thing within the first three days. From what Magnus had got from skimming through the book, a lot of it was just 'This man who had this father got killed by this man, son of this man, who ruled over this place, where this thing happened, and he stabbed the guy in the place a man _really_ doesn't wanna be stabbed and then he fell to the ground and he was dead.' Ragnor gave a speech about the important parts, but Magnus was too distracted to listen (then again, even if he wasn't, he couldn't keep up with Ragnor anyway).

"Well, you either lost a bet to Shu so that you have to go a week without any makeup or glitter-"

Magnus let out a chuckle. Ragnor had a refined accent, and since he tended to talk like a scholar, those two facts made him sound just ridiculous when he said 'Glitter.'

"-or you're having relationship issues. Considering what happened that time you were rejected by Camille, I'd assume the latter. And after you decided that you would let Imasu go - no idea why, you could've gone after him so easily - I think I have a concept of what your 'I'm pining over someone, however something is getting in the way' demeanor is."

"Good for you."

"Oh dear. No snarky remark. You really _are_ upset. Weren't you going after that Alexander bloke recently? Who rejected who?"

Magnus gave a face. "If you _must_ know, he just doesn't date anyone."

"Chaste?"

"Pretty much. I tried to ask him out and he changed the subject."

Ragnor gave a playful smirk. "Yes, I believe that qualifies as harsh. Are you sure he simply didn't misunderstand your meaning - or you misunderstood his?"

"I asked if he wanted to meet up at Starbucks, he said that his parents might come back since they usually come back on weekends, and they also have a younger brother of his, Max, and they're a pretty functional family even though they're separate, and how they plan to visit every weekend from their fancy work but they aren't always consistent, and then he said that he doesn't like going out. I asked him 'Even for dates?' and he was like 'Not really, I don't do the whole dating thing anyway.'"

"And you're certain that he _understood_ you were asking about a date? Perhaps he merely digressed about his family in his nervous emotional response to your question."

"What part of 'I don't date' do you not understand?"

"I'm filling the optimistic role of your conscious, considering you don't seem keen performing the task yourself. You're clearly more upset about this recent rejection than you are with normal relationship issues. You have two types of relationships - those that you care about and those that you don't. Camille and Imasu were examples of those you _do_ care about, and subsequently mourn about when things hit bumps and come to a conclusion. Frankly, I disapproved of Camille anyway, so _I_ was not mourning in particular, and Imasu was your own choice to let go. However, it seems that this recent tragedy with Alec was no decision of your own - no feeling that you were too much for each other and best apart - while he also didn't outright reject _you_ in particular - he didn't claim that the two of you in particular wouldn't work out. If you wish to sulk, at the very least come to me with the claim that you tried your hardest to convince him that you would be worth the risk of opening up to love."

"If he doesn't want to date, I won't push him."

"Even though it's clear he's pining after you? Honestly. It seems that when you fall in love you become a total idiot. At the very least, your self-sacrifice does prove your noble intentions."

"Yea for me."

* * *

Magnus headed lazily towards his English class, tempted to take Ragnor's advice and just talk to Alec. He had little doubt that Alec was nice enough to overlook Magnus's negligence of him recently if he gave a small apology. The problem with that was, he wasn't sure he'd be able to have a friendship with Alec if he knew that he wasn't going to be able to ask him out.

Magnus had been trying not to come off too strongly, as Magnus was surprised enough that Alec wasn't driven off by his flashy appearance and flamboyant behavior alone. He felt like he was on the verge of driving Alec away with everything he did, and he took his time getting to know Alec as a friend before finally just asking him to go out on a date. He probably should've asked Alec a little more clearly, or returned to the subject after he'd rambled in that cute way that he does when he's trying to sound casual but is nervous about messing up and looking bad.

He knew he really should go talk to Alec, but now he wasn't sure how to start up the conversation again. Even if it _was_ a misunderstanding, there was always the small chance that it _wasn't_ and Alec having to clarify that yes, he wasn't into dating - let alone dating someone like Magnus - stung just when Magnus _thought_ about it. He didn't know if he'd be able to stand if that happened, and the risk made him talk himself out of it each time.

He'd considered talking to Alec, but his thoughts kept on returning to him like a blaring alarm going off in his head. Every time he told himself to shut up and talk to him (did that make sense?) his nerves refused to settle down until the time came that he could meet Alec after school and he pathetically asked one of his friends for a ride to his house or just plain started walking home on his own.

He dropped into his seat, scanning the desk for Alec's handwriting. He couldn't get over the natural instinct that had developed. Alec and Magnus had definitely texted and called each other - and hung out in person, obviously - but they had never stopped writing their notes to each other. Magnus found it fun, and it felt like a bonus way of hanging out with Alec, their written notes rarely, if ever, mentioned through other forms of communication. Just having to wait the day for Alec's response felt exhilarating for weird Magnus-reasons.

He had stopped writing, unable to figure out something to say, and so Alec had stopped in turn. English class had reverted back to the normal, nap-inducing class that it had been - especially considering Magnus was having more trouble with socializing than he ever had. His friends must've thought he had lost a family member or something since they didn't bother him or question if he was all right. At least they respected when he wanted to be left to sulk in peace.

But today, he was drawn to a particular code in Alec's handwriting:

" _131 12 73 144 215 196, Magnus. 191 202 13 184 25 216 37 118 199, 191 12 203 214 185 46 17 258?_ "

* * *

' _Magnus. Starbucks, Saturday?_ '

Magnus stared at the paper that he had translated the code onto in awe.

"You going?" Shu asked, looking over his shoulder.

Magnus couldn't say anything. He was still trying to comprehend what this meant. Alec wanted to accept his previous offer? Or did Alec just want to be nice when he realized his previous mistake and take up Magnus's offer out of courtesy?

Shu whacked him on the back of the head. "Oh, just date already, for Heaven's sake! Go on!"

"But…it's not necessarily a date, Shu."

"Man, love really _does_ make you an idiot. Fine, don't go. Pass up this golden opportunity. But just remember, you'll be asking 'What if?' for the rest of your life if you don't."

With that, she walked out of the kitchen of their house.

Magnus looked back down at the paper, his mind racing. Perhaps he _had_ turned into an idiot, a love-sick fool who must've seemed incompetent from another's outside perspective. But right now, he wasn't sure how he felt, how he should feel, and whether this risk was something he would be able to survive if it didn't pay off.

* * *

And thus, Magnus found himself driving over to the coffee shop that Saturday.

As he walked in, he quickly scanned the room, but didn't notice Alec anywhere. Trying to keep his nerves down, he simply ordered a coffee and took a seat at the corner of the room, able to scan the area for if Alec had just gone to the restroom or something, as well as the front door so that he could see if Alec arrived later.

There hadn't been a specified time, and Magnus couldn't wait, so he showed up at 8, hoping that he'd waited late enough. It dwelled on him that Alec could've been expecting the evening, and Magnus started regretting all of his life choices.

He was almost done with his coffee, which he had been absent-mindedly sipping as he let time pass, and looked at the clock to find it was nearly 8:30. He couldn't tell if that was good or bad, but he realized that the simplest way to resolve this issue would be to freaking _text_ Alec. He had almost forgotten that was a thing, ever since they'd stopped communicating.

Magnus pulled out his phone and unlocked it to open the texting app, clicking on Alec's name (which had a picture of him all Shadowhunter-ed up when Magnus had given him rune tattoos). He was so engrossed in the process, trying to come up with what to say, he didn't notice when someone plopped down at his table.

"Hey," Alec greeted.

* * *

 **Okay, so it's probably bad, but I tried. In my defense, I wrote this while I was very tired. Sleep deprivation gives me ideas that are brilliant at the time.**

 **Yes, I cut it off there because I'm evil - MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **But it's also because this 'chapter' is too damn long. If you want more, like, review, follow, all that jazz. I would be happy to continue if people want it, but I warn you that relationships are not my forte. But Malec is adorable, so for that alone, I'll try.**


	2. Little Dates

**Okay, so it turned into a two-shot.**

 **As you can see, I _still_ suck at stopping at just one chapter.**

 **I admit my guilt.**

 **I wanted to post this earlier, I swear, but school came to the end of the year and I was being bombarded with information to remember, tests, pages upon pages of homework, etc. My muse decided to run away to The Dark Artifices series, and Amalspach has volunteered to beta the first few parts of that story that I went on an _extreme_ tangent for (just about 40,000 words within the first few days). I may or may not post that soon.**

 **Since it's been so long, some things might've changed in the lore, so if there are continuity errors, I apologize.**

 **(Yes, I used a line from the Bane Chronicles because it was just so funny when I read it.)**

 **But I love Malec! I AM, LIKE, GOING THROUGH MALEC WITHDRAWAL RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I'VE READ TOO MANY AMAZING STORIES!**

 **NEVERMIND, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY MALEC STORIES!**

 **WHY AM I SCREAMING?! I DON'T KNOW! THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE MALEC!**

 **(I may have a problem** **…)**

* * *

 **Okay, so this is from the future after that first part was written and I'm here to say I am so sorry for how long this chapter took to make and get out. I decided it would be a great idea to join a play as a props assistant, meaning I had literally no time to write combined with all of the homework that was shoved in my face.**

 **I wanted to work on this story, but I also wanted to work on my other ones, and this is literally a 20,000 word 'chapter,' and so I felt the need to _stop_. Since this was supposed to be a one and done thing and it turned out to _not_ be a one and done thing, it was low on my priority list.**

 **That Shadowhunter story that I was contemplating posting? The one Amalspach wanted to beta? Yeah, I've already written that to the sequel and she cannot keep up wit meh.**

 **I really wanna get to the end of my FFXIII story, I need to work on my HoO story, I _seriously_ need to get to work on ' _The High Warlock of Brooklyn(s Sister)_ ' but there just aren't enough free hours in the day for this.**

 **Let's all just count our blessings that I managed to get this thing out at all.**

 **On that note, enjoy!**

 **:)**

* * *

"Dude, I need your help _now!_ " Jace blurted.

Alec was pulled out of her nervous stupor as he waited for Saturday to come as Jace rushed through the door and into the living room, having let himself in thanks to the key that he'd gotten ages ago.

Alec sighed and rose from his comfy position on the couch. "What is it?"

"Okay, so you know Clary?"

Alec wracked his brain, but he didn't focus too much on Jace's list of flings. "Uh…"

"Oh, come on, you've gotta know her!"

Jace started rattling off things about how pretty she was, how talented she was, how nice she was, how she was a great artist, and Alec lost track of where the conversation had gone. Not that Jace didn't gush over a lot of girls like they were the best thing since sliced bread. Well, technically he thought that _he_ was the best thing since sliced bread.

Honestly, Alec was okay with Jace taking all the attention away from him, and it also helped with the fact that he didn't like girls. Jace was helping Alec in that sense, since Jace kept anyone from flirting with Alec and forcing him to give the awkward 'I'm kinda not into you or your gender like that' speeches.

That didn't mean Alec had to like it when Jace attempted to make Alec sympathize with him about the girls that he liked.

"Okay, okay," Alec finally snapped. "What's the problem?"

"What's the problem?" Jace repeated, as though he thought it was obvious. " _What's the problem?!_ The problem is that she said _no_ when I asked her out."

"In her defense, you _do_ have a reputation."

"That's not the point!"

"Actually, it kinda is."

He and Jace had another long one-sided conversation where Jace expressed his feelings and Alec pretended to listen while lying on the couch trying not to fall asleep. Not that Jace would've noticed if he did, obsessing over this Clary. Maybe Alec had heard of a Clary before - he remembered Clary being the most unique name on the signatures for that school mural or something - but any time that he'd seen her she'd been an independent and creative thinker. Alec remembered that she was in one of his classes - English, actually, but she sat on the other side of the room so he didn't really have contact with her.

Jace was way out of _her_ league, not the other way around. Obviously. That's all Alec was getting from Jace, and he wasn't really paying attention since Jace's word could never be trusted.

It got Alec a little distracted from his nervousness about Magnus, but it only gave him more reason to think about his own love-life problems. He wanted to tell Jace about the idiot that he'd been, but even if Jace was in any condition to hear what Alec said, Alec wasn't sure what he'd say. In all honesty, he was afraid Jace would think his little note system wasn't grand enough.

The friendship between him and Magnus was enough to make Alec's stomach twist. He'd had fun hanging out with Magnus, but at some point he had become closer to Magnus than he'd realized. Now that he looked back, Magnus had been flirting with him and he hadn't even noticed.

Magnus complimented him, but Alec always brushed it off with a laugh or a sarcastic comment that changed the subject. At this point, it was a miracle that Alec hadn't driven off Magnus before.

"You know what?" Alec finally snapped. "I will talk to Clary and get her to agree with a single date with you. After that, it's all up to you."

"Really, man?!" Jace exclaimed, practically jumping for joy.

Was this how people acted when they liked someone? Alec might wanna backtrack on this whole dating thing again.

" _You_ have to be the one to convince her that you're not some egotistic guy that dates every girl he comes into contact with, though."

"How do I do that?" Jace asked, looking like he was wracking his brain.

Alec sighed. He wasn't really the person to be asking for dating advice. "I suppose…just be yourself. If you _really_ like her, you have to show her that you're a person - you have flaws, you have insecurities, you have things that you dream of, things that you like. I don't know a lot about her, but I know that she's a serious person when it comes to things she's passionate about and she's not gonna take any B.S. from you or anyone. You either convince her that you're in it for the long haul or you walk away now, buddy."

Jace hesitated a moment as he stared at Alec. "I…think that's more _your_ style of dating, not mine."

Alec shrugged. "You asked my advice, there it is. Whether or not it's how I'd act, Clary's the real problem. You need to think about her if you want her to like you. I've only ever seen her from afar - we're not close friends or anything - but from what I can see, she's not gonna just fall into your arms because you say 'Please.'"

Jace sighed and paced. "All right, I'll see what I can do. You just focus on getting me that date."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, all right."

Alec ended up texting Shu - someone who got around the school more - to help him help Jace with his little Clary problem. Shu said that she was on it, and since she was a girl and probably knew girls better than Alec in particular did, he trusted that he'd made the right decision in asking for assistance.

Alec inadvertently started thinking up the plan for when he went on his date (was it a date?) with Magnus. He'd have to apologize a million and one times for his stupidity, and if Magnus still gave him a chance, he realized that he should just take his own advice. He needed to be himself. That shouldn't be too hard, right? He and Magnus had been friends for a while now and it wasn't like there was anything to hide.

Alec sighed as he dropped a pillow onto his face. He still had to get through Friday before Saturday came, and he wouldn't be able to calm his nerves until either Magnus rejected him or he mustered the courage to admit he wanted to date him.

Joy.

* * *

"I got Clary to agree to _one_ date," Shu reported to Jace. "And you better not take advantage of that or I will personally punch you in the face before she even gets the _chance_."

"Why does it sound like you're more invested in this than her?" Alec asked.

"The deal was that I would help her with the prom that's coming up. Then go to it to be the DJ. And I. Hate. Parties."

"Wait, wait, wait, _you're_ related to _Magnus?_ " Jace exclaimed.

"Even worse. I live with him."

* * *

Alec woke up at three in the morning and couldn't fall asleep. It was Saturday. He would meet Magnus later today.

He had thought about what he'd say a thousand times, planned and re-planned and re-planned the speech in his head basically all night. Alec wasn't even sure he'd fallen asleep at all. He was an idiot for idiotic reasons. Would Magnus be mad? Would he be surprised? Or had he already accepted what Alec had said and moved on?

Alec finally let out an exasperated sigh and moved out of bed, wrapping himself in a blanket as he sulked his way over to the TV. He tried distracting himself with a movie, but that didn't work. He lazily ate a bowl of cereal before deciding that sitting still wasn't going to help him at all.

He got dressed and then headed out for a morning jog, slipping his earbuds in. He wasn't out of shape by any means, but it had been a while since he'd gotten out in the cool morning air. Time to do the most logical thing when faced with a nerve-wracking situation: run from all his problems.

He wasn't really sure where he was running, but the sun started coming up and he found himself running through the city. Had he really gone that far? He'd only gone through…37 songs. It had been 2 hours and 45 minutes, give or take. Whoops. He'd taken walking breaks along the way and had his water bottle handy, but damn. When did he get so many songs on his playlist?

He finally realized just how tired he was and found the coffee shop he planned to meet Magnus in just ahead. Might as well. He sat down outside at one of the tables - relatively vacant since it was still early in the morning. Well, now that he looked at his watch, it was 8 in the morning. But it was also Saturday, so most people who weren't forced to get up with the sun because of work, school, or a combination of both were probably still snoozing.

Alec watched as some people came and went, but when his heart rate finally calmed down, he headed inside to refill his water bottle. Maybe he should just wait for Magnus. It occurred to him that he hadn't given a time. For all he knew, Magnus could be arriving at, like, 5 in the afternoon. Or maybe Magnus wouldn't show up at all. This might not have been a very well-thought-out plan, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, there were only so many numbers he could fit onto the desk without people getting curious and solving it themselves.

He had all of these thoughts moments before he walked in and saw Magnus sitting at one of the tables on his phone. Alec looked at the clock. 8:30. Looks like he wasn't the only one eager about this meeting/possible date. Or Magnus was just here by coincidence because he liked this place.

Alec took a deep breath and gathered his courage before walking over and sitting down before he could stop himself. He forced a smile through his swirling nerves. Look calm on the outside, look calm on the outside.

He tried to remember everything that he had planned previously. Priority one: apologize. Priority two: ask for a date. Priority three: improvise.

"Hey," He greeted.

* * *

"H-Hi…" Magnus stuttered.

Very graceful, indeed.

Alec shifted in his seat nervously, clasping his hands together on the table in front of him. "Look…I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

It was the ' _We can still be friends_ ' talk, Magnus realized with dread. "For what?" He asked, trying to keep his emotions from showing. "You can live your life however you want. I was just…caught up in the moment. I didn't seem to remember that you're not gonna dedicate your entire life to me. You've got other friends, other family…"

"And I've never done this whole dating thing before, and I was scared."

Magnus blinked, trying to keep down the small bubble of hope building inside him. "What do you mean?"

"When you asked me out before, I was just… _so_ scared. I liked you, maybe more than I was willing to admit even to myself. Every time we talk, I'm just trying to not look like an idiot in front of you, and the next thing you know, I screw up everything like I always do."

"You don't always screw stuff up. Mistakes are a part of all of our lives. Besides, you're amazing at everything you do. You work so hard in school and I don't know how you stay sane. You do things you're passionate about, you're a fun-loving person when you're comfortable enough to show true colors, you've got a great relationship with your sister, and you're handsome to boot."

"But I can't even get asked out properly," Alec muttered, trying to keep himself composed as he let that last compliment roll over him. "I'm not very good at this whole socializing thing. You know, _listening to people_ , and _talking to people_ , and _not_ turning down the offer of a date from the guy I like."

Magnus smiled, trying to contain his euphoria. "S-So…you wanna start over?"

Alec seemed to sigh in relief. "That would be great."

Magnus held his hand out dramatically. "So, Alexander Lightwood, would you like to go on a date with me?"

He chuckled and slipped his hand into Magnus's. "I'd love to go on a date with you, Magnus Bane."

Magnus squeezed his hand gently, feeling a surge of joy just from Alec's touch. "Can I offer you dessert for breakfast?"

* * *

Magnus, having a craving for something sweet, got them a little cake that they could share, along with coffee, since Alec seemed exhausted.

"I couldn't sleep, and so I jogged the entire way here from my house," He admitted.

Magnus chuckled. "I can see you doing something like that. I'll tell you what, I certainly couldn't run with that kind of stamina. I'm not particularly sporty. Why do you think I like being a warlock? I can be as lazy as I want using magic."

"Well, I'm not into most sports - just archery. But doing everything with magic will make you lazy, you know. What if your magic gets taken away one day?"

"Then I'll have my Shadowhunter boyfriend to protect me."

Alec chuckled nervously. Did one date make them boyfriends? Boyfriends. It sounded foreign in his head, but at the same time it gave him a warm feeling, especially when he fit Magnus into that equation in particular. Magnus. Alec's boyfriend. It seemed like too much to ask for, and they were still on the first date, after all.

"And using magic isn't easy, you know. I'm strong enough to hold my own. And I've got 400 years of experience. Surely I know enough about surviving to kick butt without relying solely on magic."

"Good point. The show has to weaken warlock powers for the sake of not making them too overpowered, but maybe one or more of them learned kung-fu during their long lives."

They got their cake with two forks along with a wink from Maia, who happened to be working there today. She was a part of one of Magnus's popular circles, Alec assumed, but though she may have been in school, Alec didn't know her personally.

"I think Shu might've informed her of my plans," Magnus admitted when Maia left.

Alec chuckled. "That sounds like her. She seems more invested in this relationship than we are."

"Aren't siblings wonderful?"

They started making conversation like they always had, and Alec felt extremely relieved to find they could get along the way they had before. Alec started eating the cake and found it was pretty good - and, as Magnus happily pointed out, it had whipped cream.

"You can't have desert without whipped cream," He insisted.

"This is breakfast," Alec countered.

"You can't have breakfast without it either."

Alec laughed as Magnus took a bite to emphasis his point. He took a larger bite overdramatically and ended up getting whipped cream on his nose, but was pretending that he didn't notice.

"You've got a little something…"

Magnus opened his eyes and went cross-eyed as he looked at the cream. Alec reached out and wiped it from his nose. Against his better judgement, he stuck his finger in his mouth to lick it off and was rewarded with Magnus's stunned face. Alec broke out into laughter and Magnus fumbled as he tried to recover.

"H-Hey! What are you laughing at?! I find nothing hilarious about this situation, thank you very much."

"Sure," Alec chuckled.

Magnus didn't hold out for long and broke into a smile. "It reminds me of when Shu said she hated whipped cream. I gave her a plate of it to the face."

"I assume that didn't go well."

"Hey, you should be on my side!"

Alec merely shrugged with a smile.

"Well, if you must know, it ended in an all out brawl involving whipped cream flying everywhere."

"They had a thing like that in my old school where people got a face full of whipped cream depending on the amount of money we raised for a fundraiser. This one time, they went a bit overboard and got in a whipped cream fight and a teacher slipped and fell. Izzy found it entertaining mostly because she volunteered me to be the one to get the cream."

"Is that where you gained whipped cream PTSD?"

"No. _That_ came from the time Izzy tried baking cookies with whipped cream mixed into the recipe. A _lot_ of it. And I was the first victim she could find within reach to taste-test."

He gave a sympathetic smile that showed he kinda cared but couldn't really understand. Not that Alec had really expected anything different. People were great like that. Even he was guilty of not being able to sympathize with people and, purposefully or not, being unable to feel much pity or understanding.

"We should do this again," Magnus said as they walked to the door.

"Definitely."

Magnus stopped outside the shop, his hands slipped into his pockets. "I'd give you my number, but we've already passed that checkpoint in this relationship, so…"

"Well, dates don't always have to end in a big soap opera moment of drama," Alec shrugged.

"But drama is what I do best, you see," Magnus smiled.

Alec wondered what was going through his head, but found it was progressively more difficult to discern his thoughts the longer he knew Magnus, rather than becoming easier. He couldn't tell if Magnus's smile meant he was thinking something that meant embarrassment for Alec or an actually good surprise.

That's why he was genuinely taken off guard when Magnus leaned in and stole a kiss. Alec didn't even have time to process closing his eyes, he was so shocked. Magnus's lips were soft, still tasting of the cake they'd shared, and Alec worked to memorize the feeling of the kiss, the curve of his lips, the heat that seemed to surge through him. And then it was over.

"Need a ride home?" Magnus asked casually.

How could he possible be so composed after that? "I…I, uh…sure…"

Magnus laughed and led Alec to his car while Alec tried to recover. Oh, this was _so_ on now.

As they drove home, Magnus put on the radio and the two of them ended up singing to some of their favorite songs together - nothing new, since they had already been dorks together before, but Alec had felt something had changed between them. Something he couldn't express through words, but he knew that it was good, great, amazing.

"So…does this mean we're boyfriends?" Magnus asked, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice.

Alec smiled. "I'd like that," He managed.

"Great."

The two of them were both silent, trying to contain their joy, but just one glance at each other at the same time had them both breaking out into laughter.

"You wanna…go…get a bite to eat after school on Monday?" Alec asked.

Was it wrong to want to spend every second with Magnus now that they were dating? Alec mentally giggled. Dating. They were dating. Okay, he was going crazy. Then again, he was acquainted with Magnus.

"I'd love that," Magnus said.

After that, it was a long process of saying goodbye and then stumbling to the door of his house trying not to look like an idiot. When Magnus finally drove away, Alec finally managed to get the door open and collapsed on the floor next to the door. That had gone better than he'd expected. It took him a while to actual realized that what had happened was real.

"Alec! That you?!" Izzy called, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Great, when Izzy found out about this, she was going to demand to hear every detail. It was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

When Magnus got home, he was surprised to find Shu had invited Ragnor and Caterina over - Caterina holding Chairman Meow in her arms and petting the cat (yes, Magnus had named the cat Chairman Meow) while Shu had Church in her lap, the grumpy cat only able to tolerate her and their friend Jem - who was the original owner, but Shu got to cat-sit every now and then.

"Look who's back," Shu said. "How'd it go?"

"Did you really invite them here to hear about my love life?" Magnus sighed, crossing his arms.

"Well, Ragnor told me how smitten you were with this boy and I had to check it out," Cat said innocently. "So, how'd the date go? Please tell me you aren't being as stupid as Rag told me you were being and figured out that there was a misunderstanding."

"How many people did you tell?" Magnus demanded.

"Just everyone," Ragnor said casually.

"It's not like we all hadn't figured it out already," Shu said. "You haven't been your normal party-ing self lately, and it was _so_ obvious you were in love from all the happy smiles that started happening from your mystery friend who wrote you notes on a desk. Then you two met, and it was so adorable, and I shipped it!"

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Sometimes you are such a girl."

She frowned dramatically. "Hey, what do you mean _sometimes?_ "

"Sometimes _you_ are such a girl, Mags," Caterina sneered. "But you don't see us complaining about it."

"I do," Ragnor declared. "Raphael would be the first to agree with me, and-"

"Oh you and Raphael," Magnus rolled his eyes. "'Oooh, Raphael is always so professional.' 'Oooh, Raphael brought up the most interesting points in that meeting you forgot to attend.' 'Oooh, Raphael and I are planning a June wedding.' Raphael would agree with anything you say because he has a policy of never doing anything that is awesome."

Ragnor crossed his arms. "I take offense to that."

"We're not here to talk about Ragnor and Raphael, we're here to talk about you and Alec," Shu declared. "Now spill it before I sick Church on you."

The cat hissed in Shu's arms and Magnus was both amazed and terrified at his sister's level of control over that cat. Other than Jem, Church hated everybody, and Magnus meant _everybody_ , so he had no doubt that the cat would take any chance it got to attack.

Magnus sighed and sat down on the couch. Bad enough he had to tell his sister one way or another, but now there was Ragnor and Cat - possibly if not entirely the most judgmental and merciless of his friends. Magnus knew they did it out of love (did he though?) but they were still annoying.

"Okay, so I got there at around 8:30, and then I realized I should probably text him, but when I pulled out my phone he sits down at my table, and…"

* * *

"I hate balloons," Shu declared.

She tied another of the balloons they were preparing for prom.

"They pop, they take too much of my lung capacity to inflate, they're a pain in the arse to tie, and when they leak, there's no hope in saving them."

"Well, we're almost done," Clary said.

They had put a large sea of balloons into a net at the top of the gym, throwing the final ones in and securing the net.

"All good down here!" Charon called.

He was one of those athletic boys that had a posse that was helping out with the decorations. Luckily for them, he wasn't a jerk like the stereotypes on TV, and he wasn't working his minions to death. All of them were there voluntarily, and they all seemed to be having fun. Charon was a natural leader and his social skills weren't lacking, but Shu seemed to resent him for his perfection and went on to deny his worth constantly.

Shu slid down the ladder (Magnus didn't understand how she did that without breaking something or at least being terrified) and hopped off. "Balloons are in place, streamers are everywhere, lights are all working, and the DJ is set up. Anything else?"

"Glitter cannons," Magnus declared, pushing a trigger in his hand and having the little cannon shoot out sparkling confetti across half the dance floor.

"Way to fire it off before prom has even started," Izzy complained, an honorary guest allowed to be there since she was helping out with the setup.

"Don't worry. I've got plenty of reloads."

Izzy rolled her eyes, but Magnus poured another bag of confetti in without really caring much for the mess. It was going to get wrecked when prom actually began (because teenagers loved to make messes - especially when they didn't have to clean up) so what was a little pre-glitter-bombing gonna do, really?

"How are the snacks going, guys?" Shu called.

"Plenty of ice, cookies, popcorn, punch, water, and the regular buffet of treats," Dot recounted.

"Thanks Dorothy. Tessa, how's the entrance coming?!"

"Red carpet is in place. This'll be the best Hollywood-themed prom ever! Strobe lights, cameras, and props!"

Maia held up a fedora and a plastic crown. "You can dress up, too. And the pictures come out like a film reel."

"The camera's working, right Will?" Tessa called.

"Yup!" He called.

"And the background is in place," Jem called from a ladder where he was hanging a mural Clary had made.

Honestly, Shu couldn't understand what was going on with those three. Tessa seemed to be in love with both of them, but Jem and Will were best friends and didn't seem to have any rivalry. On the surface, at least. Shu was unsure of how this whole 'relationship' thing worked.

"Where's Alec?" Shu asked Izzy.

She looked down from her ladder where she was hanging streamers. "He's still freaking out about how to ask Magnus to prom. _This_ prom that we are currently setting up. I say just go for it and he complains that it's not that simple."

Shu sighed. "Mags has got the same problem."

Izzy descended and hopped over the last three rungs. "Clearly they need an intervention. We need to get them together somehow, or they'll never get _anywhere_. My big brother is hopeless sometimes."

"My little brother is hopeless too, but in a _completely_ different way. Hmm, let's talk to them tonight and shove them on a date. If the two of them don't get their act together tonight, they're gonna be going to prom _single_ while dating each other! Think you can handle Alec?"

"You can count on me!" Izzy saluted. "I've been pushing and pulling my brother's strings since before either of us can remember."

"Preach it, sister."

Shu gave Izzy a fist bump and they started formulating a plan.

* * *

"It's called a date," Shu said. "You've been on tens of them with Alec before."

"Yeah, but I don't need your help setting them up," Magnus whined.

She crossed her arms and frowned. " _You_ need to ask Alec to prom tomorrow. This is your last chance, and it will just be awkward if you two go separately and then hook up mid-way. Both of you need to man up, and considering there is no such thing as a woman _in_ your relationship, that shouldn't be too hard. It's not like he's gonna say no."

Magnus rubbed the back of his head. "Sure, but…I don't know how to do it. I kinda just put it off, thinking I'd figure something out eventually. I wanna make it special, you know? If I just casually mention it, he might take it to mean that I don't care that much, but if I make a big deal about it, he might get all shy and nervous, and I don't wanna put him in the spotlight if he doesn't wanna be."

"You couldn't ask casually if you tried. Alec will know you mean it no matter what. If you don't wanna put him in the spotlight - considering the two of you _are_ dating - do something that's special to the two of you. I've set up a dinner date and have enlisted aid to get Alec there too. Then you two go on a walk through the city or some shit and then it's up to you. Take him to that bridge or whatever that couples go to, or freaking take him home and watch cheesy movies, I don't care. Izzy and I will be out all night and staying at Clary's place for a girl's night, so it doesn't matter where you go."

"Geez, it's not like I'm proposing to him."

"It's a _prom_ posal, so I expect no less effort. You're going together, it shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah, so why haven't you asked that Charon guy out yet?"

She scoffed. "Because _we_ are not dating already, unlike you and Alec."

"So you're gonna date in the future?"

"Never. He's too prissy and high and mighty, and I'm supposed to be falling for him just because we're in the same room together."

"Well, you never know. _He_ might ask _you_."

"D-Don't turn this on me. You need to ask Alec to prom tonight. Do it, or I will make your relationship pure hell."

Magnus had to admit that his sister did a lot to support him and Alec in their relationship. Having Shu as an enemy was something he'd seen many fall victim to in their naïveté, and it was definitely not in his best interest. Seeing as Shu had the ability to make any visit from Alec a nightmare and any visit to Alec's even worse, he had no doubt she could prevent them from _ever_ being happy again.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it. Hmm…I think I know just the thing."

* * *

"Since when are you controlling my love life?" Alec complained.

"Since _you_ started failing at controlling it yourself," Izzy scolded. "You haven't even asked Magnus to prom, it's only a couple days away now, and you two are already in the 'Officially dating, boyfriends' stage! We have a dinner date set up for the two of you, and then you're gonna walk around the city and do whatever the hell you want, but make it romantic. By the end of the night, you two better be going together, or I swear I will make sure you and Magnus will _never_ have alone time again."

"You're going to follow me like a hawk? You realize that we can just see each other at school, right?"

"That's where Shu comes in. She's in on this too, and she has both a driver's license and more than enough dedication to her brother's life already that nothing gets by her. And don't you dare underestimate my abilities, big brother. I'm only a couple years younger than you."

Alec knew that his sister could be a pest if she was determined. Isabelle Lightwood was not a girl to be messed with.

"I'll go, I'll go. I'm just not sure how to ask Magnus. Do I just throw it out there? What if he's expecting something big and eccentric?"

"He's dating _you_. I don't think he has very high standards."

"Hey!"

"Look, if he likes you at _all_ \- and considering you're currently dating, I'd think he feels at least a _modicum_ of love for you - then he won't care how the heck you ask. And if you two have a stable relationship, there's gotta be _something_ special between you two that you can use to woo him. Think how you first met, something significant that you did during your first date, some special saying that you two have, etc. Just go and knock him off his feet."

Alec sighed. "Easier said than done."

Alec looked through his room. There were pictures of the time Magnus had given them makeovers as Shadowhunters. There were pictures from each of their dates after the first, along with the paper with the translated notes that Alec had received. He also had the picture of the code Magnus gave with his phone number.

It wouldn't be fancy, or fast, but maybe he could ask Magnus through their code. Or maybe that was pushing it too far. He'd already used it to make up for his royal mistake of rejecting Magnus a first date and then asking him again. He needed something new.

Maybe using something they had in their past wasn't the way to go. Maybe being able to try and _make_ a new special memory was the way to go. After the dinner Izzy had set up, he had free reign to take Magnus anywhere he wanted. He should know Magnus better than anyone (except maybe Shu) so what would be the best thing for them to do together?

Well, simple but memorable was the way to go when it came to Alec.

"I think I've got an idea."

"Oh, thank the angel," Izzy muttered.

* * *

"This place is _way_ too fancy," Alec muttered.

When Alec had arrived at the restaurant that Izzy had given him directions to, he'd found that Shu had dropped off Magnus (leaving Alec Magnus's only ride home, so there was no getting out of this). The two of them had gone in to find that they had a reservation. You needed a _reservation_ to get into this place. He'd looked at the menu and just chosen the thing that looked like a steak. At the very least, Magnus looked slightly out of his element too, but he was playing it off pretty well and did most of the talking.

Magnus was nothing if not smooth.

"Yeah, well our adoptive dad, Kandai, is dating this guy, Ren, who's brother owns a big corporation and all. Our dad's got a job there too, so we've got a _little_ money to spare."

"I wouldn't have guessed. It's not like you're living in a mansion."

"Kan doesn't like to boast. We pretty much live like regular people with only small luxuries here and there. Believe it or not, not all rich people are arrogant jerks throwing money around like there's no tomorrow."

"You're pretty flashy, but yeah, you don't look like an arrogant rich kid."

"I've had to go to a family meeting with Kandai and Shu for Ren's family. It was terrifying for all three of us, but luckily Ren was there to help and is a really nice guy. I've learned a little about rich family life, but we've tried to avoid those fancy meetings at all cost. Kan still has to go to some because of his job, but he's gotten used to it. He's still a normal guy at home. He works nights pretty often, so in the morning he's a tired wreck. Ren, by comparison, is like an excited puppy in the morning."

"He's a morning person?"

"Oh yeah. He goes on about how great the day's going to be, while Kandai groans to him to be quiet so that he can pass out on the table eating breakfast - well, _our_ breakfast, his dinner. It's happened before."

Alec laughed. "Well, I'd be happy to meet them one day."

Magnus chuckled. " _Well_ , if you're _sure_. They're a bit…much."

"I've grown up with Izzy and Jace. Trust me, _they're_ 'much.'"

"Point taken."

Their meals arrived and the two of them attempted to avoid embarrassing themselves while they were eating and making small talk.

"So Jace actually managed to get a second date out of Clary?"

"Yeah, I know, right? But now he's berating me for good restaurants to go to. I told him a couple places and then he suddenly hung up on me, so I assume he went with the first place I told him."

"Aw, Biscuit better whip that boy into shape."

"Biscuit?"

"Oh, right, I suppose I never told you. I grew up with Clary as a good friend. She stuck by me through everything that happened with my parents and such. She was a nice and cute girl growing up - though our relationship was completely platonic - and at some point I started calling her 'Biscuit.' The name stuck. She's small and might look pretty harmless at first, but she's smart and strong-willed. Jace is in for a rude awakening if he thinks she'll just fall for him like that."

"Well, Jace has never put so much effort and thought into a date - he usually just has one night stands. He's ticked off many a people, girls and boys who care about said girls alike, but apparently his 'charms' or whatever still have plenty of people pining over him. This one girl, Kaelie, she's made it her goal to spite him any time they're together, and she's pretty determined."

"That sounds like a nightmare."

"It's why I don't bother with the whole dating thing. You never know when you're going to meet the one, and every time that you get it wrong, you lose friends and even make enemies. I doubted that anyone could truly find their perfect SO in high school."

Magnus shrugged. "So…what about now?"

Alec pursed his lips. "Well…I've certainly never met anyone like you before, never had a friend like you, and never thought we'd _ever_ make it to boyfriend material…so you've definitely changed my perspective. I'm still nervous as hell and terrified of the moment this won't work out and we'll probably get into a fight and then break up and never talk to each other again and I'll go back to being alone and quiet and then I'll have to figure out my path in life and move on without you and then we'll go our separate ways and never talk to each other again and you'll probably move on and find someone else and Izzy'll tell me about how you've become famous and have gotten married and have kids and I'll still be trying to figure out what I want in life and I'll die alone-"

"Alexander, do you wanna go to prom with me?"

"Sure, that'd be great," He said quickly.

Magnus laughed. "Well…that wasn't how I expected this night to go. But Alexander, you shouldn't start thinking like that. Look, I have my insecurities too, but I don't want this to end because we're afraid. If you spend too much time worrying about the future, you'll never get to enjoy the present."

Alec chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, I just…I've never done this before, I've never liked someone so much, and now that I've actually got a _chance_ here, I don't want to ruin it."

"Have you ever liked anyone else? Surely you must've."

"Yeah, well…at one point I liked Jace, but he's straight as an arrow and never noticed, so…I guess I kinda lost hope after that. I mean, you never know if anyone else out there is…compatible. It's not like that's the first thing people say when they introduce themselves. 'Hi, I'm Tim, I'm straight.' 'Hello, I'm James, I'm gay.' You start to become paranoid that anyone you think that you like can't ever feel the same way."

Magnus smiled gently. "Well, no matter how things happened, by some lucky miracle, you and I found each other. I know that I like you a lot. I know that you've turned my whole world upside down, Alexander, and no matter what happens, I don't ever wanna let you go."

Alec sighed in relief, visibly relaxing. "Come on. Let's get outta here."

Magnus nodded and paid with the card that Shu had given him ("It's Dad's. Don't worry, he's asleep." "You can't just _steal_ from Kandai, Shu!" "He loves me. And it's not stealing if we're going to give it back. It's _borrowing_.") He and Alec walked out and decided to stroll through the city. He was glad when Alec took his hand and happily laced their fingers together.

"So…I know that I already agreed to be your date to prom, but I _did_ have another plan for tonight," Alec said.

"Oh? Well, so did I, but mine's probably pretty lame compared to yours."

"We'll just have to see. So, you wanna go first?"

"Mine is back at my place, so if yours is some place we need to go to, you should go first."

Alec smiled. "Well, mine is with me now, so how about we go at the same time?"

Magnus nodded. "Sure."

As Shu had all but abandoned Magnus there, Alec drove them to Magnus's place which, as promised, had been abandoned thanks to his sister. Magnus suspected that she convinced Kandai and Ren to go on a date and Ren had been so ecstatic that Kan couldn't say no.

"So, I was thinking we'd just have a Netflix marathon. Or, Hulu. Or YouTube. Whatever we want," Magnus said. "And you can spend the night."

"That'd be great."

As they'd been friends for a while even before they'd dated, they had each spent the night at each other's places pretty often (there is no such thing as being too old for sleepovers). They had extra clothes at each other's places, toothbrushes (always important), school supplies, food, movies, as well as other miscellaneous items that had been left at one point or another.

Magnus turned on the TV and the two of them settled in. They had a regular night of complaining about certain characters and plot holes, what someone should've done in that situation and how they loved their favorite characters.

Eventually, Magnus sighed and forced himself to get on with it. "Here."

He handed over a card to Alec, who took it in curiosity. On the front was a cute little sketch of Magnus as a warlock and Alec as a Shadowhunter. In Magnus's handwriting it read ' _To my favorite Shadowhunter_ …'

Alec opened to card to have it shoot a puff of glitter up and out. Luckily, Alec had been fooled before and knew to aim the card away from his face and not hold it too close, so it just ended up getting all over the blanket on his lap.

"Should've seen _that_ coming," Alec chuckled.

When he actually got the chance to look at the card's inside, he saw a small collage of pictures. There were some of Alec and Magnus when they had dressed up as a Shadowhunter together, there was the picture from Alec's phone of the first coded message he'd gotten with Magnus's phone number, and there were tons of pictures from their dates. There was a picture that Magnus had taken when Alec had gotten whipped cream on his nose, the time Magnus first glitter-bombed him, and the just a picture Magnus took when Alec wasn't looking while he was doing Calculus homework.

Then there were pictures that Magnus must've gotten from Alec's phone (which Izzy must've stolen at one point or another) of Magnus smiling at the camera during the random times Alec thought he looked adorable. There were one or two where Magnus hadn't been looking, along with the one that Alec had for his lock screen with the two of them together. All of the pictures were small but neatly organized. Alec knew that Magnus had an artistic side and guessed that he was probably going to go into fashion one day.

Then, there was a fancy cursive question in glitter pen: ' _Prom?_ '

Alec smiled. "This is wonderful. But when did you - and Izzy, I know she was in on this - get my phone?"

"Oh, here and there," Magnus shrugged.

Alec chuckled. "Well, just in case it wasn't clear, yes, I would love to go to prom with you." Alec took the opportunity to kiss Magnus. He liked doing that. As often as possible. Which was pretty often. And it never got old. "As long as you're paying for the tickets."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "I _guess_ I could ask Ren for some money."

"Uh, no offense, but I think you're more financially backed than I am."

"True, true. Anyway, I already got our tickets. Check this cool feature out."

Magnus pulled at the second half of the card and revealed an extra piece of paper that was thinner than the rest of the card, which held the two tickets that Magnus had bought.

"Wow, I couldn't even tell there was another section."

"I know!" Magnus exclaimed. "It's genius, right? I came up with a design that can hide that extra paper easily. I'm not sure about gift cards - those are a bit too thick - but money and checks and maybe even just receipts can be hidden here for that extra surprise."

"You could become famous with inventions like this."

"That's what Kan says, and Ren has offered to promote me, but I'm not sure I really wanna go public and be famous and whatnot until I'm at least out of high school."

"Well, one way or another, I know you're gonna go far."

Another opportunity to kiss Magnus that Alec took. Still never got old.

"Thanks, Alexander. Now, where's yours?"

Alec chuckled. "I'm not sure I can top this-" He held up the card "-But I'll try."

He reached into his pant pocket before taking Magnus's hand and setting something small and light into it.

"Don't laugh, all right?"

"Alexander, you know me better than that. I wouldn't laugh unless I was specifically meant to."

Alec nodded nervously. "Okay."

Alec moved his hand off of Magnus's and revealed a small charm. It had Japanese symbols on it along with some small patterns on the fabric. Though it wasn't much, Magnus was instantly attached to it.

"It's called an omamori, a Japanese amulet. It's supposed to bring you luck and protection. You once mentioned that you'd like to travel around the world, specifically you once said Japan, so…yeah."

"Alexander, this is…"

"It's lame, I know, I'm on a budget, but-"

"Alexander, it's _wonderful_. I don't need anything big or expensive. You put your heart into your gifts, and that's what I love about you."

"That _all_ you love about me?"

"Among other things."

Alec smiled and the two of them kissed.

"You realize this means we're gonna be dragged out shopping, right?" Alec pointed out.

"Ugh, don't remind me. Izzy's gonna have a party. Jace and Clary are coming too, that's for sure. Not to mention Ragnor and Raphael - I swear those two are a thing but refuse to admit it - Cat because she's never been one to miss out on my misery, and then Tessa and her boyfriends."

"What is the official thing going on between those three anyway?"

"I think I heard Tessa and Will were officially together. But then again, there are rumors of her and Jem. Hell, a couple of people are shipping Will and Jem. Then there are those who think all _three_ of them are together. Honestly, you could make a book series about those three. Then that book series would inspire a ton of fan fic where people tried to make sense of them and there'd be a divided fan base of who belongs with who!"

Alec patted him on the shoulder. "You okay buddy?"

"Yup."

"Well, barring our friends that are coming, I'm sure you'll look brilliant no matter what."

Magnus smiled. "Same for you, Alexander."

* * *

"There, this looks good. Happy?"

"Come on, Shu, at least _pretend_ to be interested," Tessa urged.

"You know that's impossible for me, Tess."

"Let the girl go, Tessa," Cat jumped in. "She's bringing all of us down and you're just making it worse."

"You _will_ try harder," Tessa declared. "We'll get you into something you like, one way or another."

"I don't know, I like it," Dot commented.

"How about we just buy this and I'll get Magnus to customize it?" Shu suggested. "You know that he's good with clothing."

"That's practically a wedding dress," Izzy argued. "You seriously think a pure white dress is gonna survive a prom filled to the brim with teenagers?"

"It will with a little Magnus flare."

"I think it's a great idea," Clary said. "Magnus has customized a lot of my stuff behind my back and he's actually done a great job. He makes things practical and stylish. Along with sparkly. Sparkles are a guarantee with Magnus."

" _See?_ " Shu pressed.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Ugh, _fine_ , but you better be asking out that boy of yours."

"I don't have a boy!"

"None of us believe that, Shu," Maia said.

"Whatever! None of you get to control my love life! Besides, I can't do anything except be the DJ and I won't be free to dance, so even if Charon asks me out, I won't be going _anywhere_."

"No one ever mentioned Charon, hon," Cat pointed out.

"But you were all thinking it! I know how you all think! You thinky thinkers thinking you know everythink about me!"

They all shared glances. "Did everyone else hear that?" Clary asked.

"I think it's time we move on," Dot announced. "Isabelle, you're up next."

"Yes!" Izzy exclaimed, rushing out to grab the dresses she'd chosen.

* * *

"No, no, no, that color's all _wrong_ on you," Ragnor muttered.

"What makes _you_ a sudden expert?" Magnus complained. "Oh, wait, is it because you're dating Raphael, king of fancy suits?"

" _No_ ," Ragnor stressed, rolling his eyes. "It's because I have eyes and I know you well, my friend."

"But thank you for the compliment," Raphael said.

"I know nothing about suits, so I guess I can't really say what I think," Simon admitted.

"I'm not sure I'm seeing what difference it makes," Jace said bluntly.

"I think it looks good," Alec said.

"You think _everything_ looks good on him," Will pointed out. "Shouldn't Alec be with the girls?"

"I'll try not to take offense to that."

"Yeah, _Magnus_ should be with the girls," Jem corrected.

"They'd be a lot more fun than all of _you_ ," Magnus agreed. "Except for you, Alec. Love you!"

There was a collective sigh from everyone except Alec who looked around, confused.

"Oh, what are you all complaining about?" Magnus demanded. "Apparently you were all shipping this from day one, so make up your minds!"

"We simply knew this was inevitable," Raphael informed him.

"Hey, I'm all for it," Jem said. "I'm just tired of shopping. Anyone else?"

"Me," Simon said, raising his hand.

"I don't even understand why we have to try on more than one each," Jace stated. "Can't we just grab black tuxes that fit and leave?"

"Well, shopping with Magnus _is_ a trying task," Will pointed out.

"Doing _anything_ with Magnus is a trying task," Ragnor corrected.

Alec stood and sifted through the suits that they'd gathered to try on (which was basically one of everything they could find) and grabbed dark plum velvet one and passed it to Magnus.

"Try this one, but you can customize it later however you want. The color works with you, it goes easily with glitter, you can add golden cuff links and black buttons with sparkle. I know for a fact you have makeup that matches, and the darkness will contrast your flashy style nicely - especially with all the lights, confetti, and the sparkling outfits that all the girls will be wearing. It's got color but it's not dull, the velvet can easily be water-proofed to be party-proof in turn, and you somehow manage to make it look good. Now who's next?"

The others stared at him, and he saw Magnus was frozen in awe for a moment before he smiled. "I've taught you well, Alexander." He kissed Alec on the cheek which seemed to snap the others out of their surprise. "And I believe our dear William is up next."

Will sighed and stood. "Let's do this thing."

* * *

" _Maaaaags?_ " Shu asked, peeking her head into his room.

"Almost done, wait over there."

Without specifying where 'there' was, Shu walked over to the seat that Magnus had in his room for 'Customers' as he called them. Turns out, a lot of people in his friend circle came to him for fashion aid, and even Kan had come a couple times for advice about dates with Ren.

"Okay, finished. How's this look?"

He showed off the modified suit that he made, having taken all of Alec's suggestions and made just the right amount of sparky, shine, and subtle color.

"It's great. Alec's gonna be blown away."

"I don't know. I think he's coming to predict me. He practically chose this for me."

"Well, imagining something and actually seeing the final results are two different things."

Magnus shrugged. "You have a point. Now, what can I do for you?"

Shu showed Magnus the dress she'd chosen and Magnus ordered her into the closet to change into it so he could get a better look at how it should turn out.

"It looks like a wedding dress, Shu."

"Well it's _not!_ " She complained.

"Don't worry. I know exactly how to fix it up. Skirt will go down to the knees, we'll trim the little shoulder ruffles off, get rid of the lace here because you're a lace hater, and maybe add a pop of color/glitter to contrast the blankness. Oh, and of course we have to party-proof. Party-proofing is important."

Magnus took a picture of her from different angles, ordered Shu to change again and leave the dress with him, and then shooed her away to get to work. Shu usually felt embarrassed to ask Magnus for all of her fashion needs, but Magnus never found it a chore - rather he enjoyed the challenge and got bored when there was no one to help and nothing to fix. He bought random outfits simply so that he would have a project to work on. Still, he insisted that Ren not help him make a name for himself until after he graduated high school and had a little more time to think about what he wanted in life.

Shu waited a couple hours, sending Kan and Ren to their shared bedroom as both of them seriously needed time together with their busy and conflicting work schedules, and then surfed through Netflix for some new series episodes that she might want to see. She made some dinner for the boys, finding her dads sleeping together and waking them since eating was recommended (it wasn't as though she hadn't found them like that before, and at least every time they had the covers over them while snuggling together), and then she headed over to hand a plate of food to Magnus and a stack of napkins - as Magnus tended to be a neat freak when working.

By one in the morning, she was watching YouTube on her computer while simultaneously acting as a moderator for a 24/7 stream of one of her favorite Youtubers when Magnus came rushing in to say that he'd finished.

Shu's dress had been customized as Magnus had said, although he statement of 'a pop of color/glitter' had been taken seriously. He had created a stripe of what he had dubbed the 'Phoenix colors' (purple fading to red fading to orange) going from her right shoulder to her left hip, mimicked on her back as though she was wearing one of those ribbon things from pageants, but the skirt was the real shocker. Magnus had created a box pleated pattern with the Phoenix colors on the inside parts and the outside strips coming to a point like the armor on a Roman skirt you might see in a movie about Greco-Roman history.

"I _love_ you, Magnus!"

Shu tackled Magnus in a tight hug before pulling back in realization.

" _You_ need to eat and sleep, mister."

"Yeah, yeah," Magnus muttered. "But it turned out great! You're lucky to have me as your personal tailor. Normally a job like this would cost hundreds of dollars."

"I'll pay you back with my love?"

"Mmm, _right_."

"How about I pay you back by keeping your sorry ass alive. Now, eat."

Magnus got pulled away from his creation (as he tended to just stare at his completed art when they were finished for a long while to admire his work or look for flaws) and Shu got him to eat in the living room with the TV on to lull him to sleep.

* * *

When Magnus and Shu had picked up Alec in a limo they'd rented for the special occasion ("Are you sure we can use this, Ren?" "Please, I insist! You don't get many prom opportunities. Make sure to take pictures!") Alec had been blown away by the changes Magnus had made for his suit. Of course, Magnus had worked on Alec's outfit too, but this was the first time they were seeing each other actually _wearing_ Magnus's new and improved prom outfits.

Alec wasn't the only one picked up. They got Dot, Ragnor, Raphael, Tessa, Will, Jem, Caterina, Clary, Jace, Maia, Simon, and of course Izzy. Ren insisted they get pictures of couples and just everyone all together, and then they all went in the limo to the prom. Upon arriving, their group made it early since they were a part of the crew who helped organize the thing and got to work with final preparations.

"You can man the balloon net," Clary had said, showing Alec a rope he'd pull to release the balloons in the ceiling.

Shu flipped a few switches and turned a few knobs to activate the sound system. "Let's do this, peeps!"

Music started playing, scaring a couple of the adults and her friends that were already there. Tessa, Will, and Jem had gone to turn on the camera system for the red carpet pictures while Dot, Caterina, Ragnor, and Raphael uncovered all of the food, set up the punch and water, as well as set out bags of freshly popped popcorn. Jace, Maia, and Simon helped with the other students to get the lights working and finish the rest of the preparations.

Once they'd finished, the floodgates opened and the students were all let in. And thus the chaos began.

* * *

"This is pretty cool!" Alec called above the music and the crowd of people.

"Glitter cannons!" Magnus announced, hitting the trigger and showering the crowd with sparkles - which they all seemed amused by.

" _All right, Idris High, it's_ that _time!_ " Shu called from the mic. " _We're doing the Cupid shuffle, so all you haters that think you're too cool for it, get off my dance floor! Everyone else, let's do this thing! If you've never done this before and don't know how it's done - first I ask you: WHY? - but don't you worry, the song tells you the steps! Don't stop just because the instructions aren't coming anymore, the whole point is to keep going to the beat all the way! Without further ado, let's shuffle!_ "

Shu clicked the button for the song to begin and all of the students who either actual enjoyed the Cupid shuffle or were just too drunk to give a shit anymore started moving to the rhythm.

Alec was planning on sitting out this one and getting some food, but Magnus laughed and pulled him onto the dance floor. "You're never too old for a good Cupid shuffle! It's not like you need to know how to dance! Come on!"

Alec chuckled and conceded, following the steps to the dance with the others, but trying to be modest about it.

"Alexander, you have to loosen up!" Magnus demanded. "Dance like nobody's watching, because nobody _is!_ There are too many people to single you out or anything!"

"I'm not a dancer, Magnus!" Alec shouted over the enthusiastic crowd.

"Doesn't matter! This is supposed to be _fun!_ Come on, dance!"

Magnus bounced on the balls of his feet and started pulling Alec to add a spring in his step. Alec laughed and attempted to follow Magnus's lead. Alec didn't nearly have as much energy, as Magnus was a party animal at his core, but he let himself relax and improvise as Magnus was doing. He found himself having a good time, and Magnus further encouraged him as the next song began.

" _We'll be doing the cha-cha slide soon, folks, so stay tuned and keep your ears open!_ " Shu announced.

Now that they were free to dance as they pleased, Magnus pulled Alec into an erratic dance of complete unpredictability. Magnus was definitely improvising to the max, spinning Alec, hopping around the dance floor, mixing together dance moves while simultaneously teaching Alec how to do them all with him.

Alec was nervous, afraid he wouldn't be able to keep up, but Magnus was persistent and taught him how to not care if there was a right or wrong way of doing things. He made up dance moves as he went, dancing around Magnus as the two of them clasped hands and mixed their random dance moves together, all while smiling more than he ever thought possible. Magnus spun him a couple times and then spun himself so that they were even, and Alec laughed as Magnus dipped himself dramatically.

One day, Alec might look back and cringe at everything that they were doing together, but at that moment, Alec didn't care. He felt more free than ever, taking that moment to just forget about the future, forget about all the inevitable struggles he'd face, forget about his insecurities, and just love Magnus more than ever.

Magnus kissed him on the dance floor more times than he could count, and for once he wasn't nervous in the slightest about who saw them.

Alec nearly slipped on the confetti glitter that Magnus's cannons had been spraying across the crowd, but Magnus caught him in a dip and then pulled him up to spin him onto his feet again, making Alec break out into laughter wondering how Magnus had pulled that off.

Alec realized there was still one more thing left to do that would cause even more pandemonium, but he didn't really care anymore. He went over to the rope Clary had showed him and pulled, the balloons being released as the crowd went wild. Alec joined Magnus under the rain of colorful balloons and kissed him.

When the balloons started popping (because teenagers couldn't be trusted with balloons without popping them) they stayed together as Alec jumped from a couple. Magnus had nerves of steel and didn't react to any, even when Jace rudely popped one right in their faces, but Alec let Magnus play the brave protector for that moment.

Overall, the night went brilliantly for them, and Alec couldn't imagine how things could possibly get better.

* * *

"You look great, angel!"

Shu jumped and nearly punched Charon in the gut had he not sidestepped out of the way.

"As jumpy as ever," He chuckled.

"Charon, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I didn't sneak up on you! You just didn't hear me over the music!"

"Yeah, well you didn't have to scare me!"

"How else was I supposed to get your attention?! I tap you on the shoulder - fear punch to the face! I wave in front of your face - elbow to the gut! I _actually_ scare you - kick to the gonads! I just stand here waiting for you to acknowledge my presence - we'd be here all night! I speak from a safe distance - I survive and we all have a good evening together!"

"Yeah? Well if you don't have anything important to say, go away!"

"Someone seems to be enjoying herself considering she hates parties and social gatherings!"

"I have full control over the dance floor! I am the _queen_ of this hizhouse, I don't care who the prom king and queen are!"

"Well, every queen needs a king!"

Charon pulled her into a kiss that she was so shocked about she nearly fell over, prompting him to pull her closer to prevent her from taking a tumble.

"You are _so_ dead," She muttered.

He simply laughed. "We'll see."

She smirked and stood straight again. "Let's see how you dance."

She hit a button that activated the slow dance song she had prepared before activating the randomizer and pulled him down into the crowd.

Shu positioned Charon's hands before stepping to the slow beat to begin a waltz. To her surprise, Charon was able to keep up with her very well, probably having learned the dance just in case she did such a thing. Shu felt she should probably be upset at his cocky smirk, but then he stepped forward onto her foot when he should've stepped back and she laughed.

"Don't think this means I'm gonna give up, Namir."

Shu chuckled. "I didn't say I did. Just glad to know you're actually human in there, Mat."

He sneered. "Asushunamir."

"Mataecharonsan."

He stuck out his tongue in defiance (because he was _very_ mature) and she took the opportunity to get back at him by stealing a kiss.

"Yeah, sure, I'm dead, whatever," He muttered.

Shu giggled before they kissed again.

* * *

"Shu owes me twenty bucks," Magnus said.

Alec rolled his eyes as the two of them swayed to the slow dance. He was hot and sweaty from all their dancing, but he still took comfort from having Magnus against him.

"I'm glad I met you, Magnus Bane."

"I'm glad you wrote 'Hi' on the desk that day, Alexander Lightwood."

He smiled and kissed Magnus again for the millionth time that night. They would always be together, he declared. No matter what came between them, he wasn't going to lose Magnus. Ever.

* * *

"I'm _so sore_ ," Alec complained.

"That's what you get for being out of shape," Izzy countered.

"I'm not out of shape! I just don't dance."

"Only for Magnus."

"Yes."

"Here's you're mail, big brother."

Izzy threw the letters at Alec's face and he was too exhausted from the previous night to even try and catch them. So, he got smacked in the face with a bunch of paper that then landed on the table in front of him with his pancakes. Luckily he didn't have any syrup or butter on them or that could've gotten messy.

Alec sifted through a bunch of college recommendations. He still wasn't sure where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do with his life, but he had a few ideas. The only problem was that he didn't have much previous experience in any categories that he wanted - he wasn't much of an actor, archery wasn't exactly something he could make an instant career out of, nor was writing books. He'd been inspired by the Shadowhunters series ever since he was a kid, both books and TV shows, and it was his passion, but he was good at math and science too. He was a hard worker and multitasker, and even if he was nervous about being a leader, others told him he did well.

Alec wondered what Magnus planned to do. College was always the time when high school couples were drawn apart, but Alec was determined not to let that happen. He'd ask Magnus when he next saw him.

"Alec, you might wanna look at this," Izzy announced.

"What?"

She passed over a letter and he instantly recognized his mother's handwriting.

' _Alexander, Isabelle,_

 _I have sent this letter to inform you that an unfortunate chain of events has occurred recently. I do not wish to tell you over a simple letter, I would rather inform you in person, but you have a right to know as soon as possible. There was an accident, a break in of the Lightwood Industries - the prime suspect being Valentine Morgenstern's rival company. Max was injured but he's in the hospital now. I will tell you the rest of the details when you arrive. I've sent an escort to bring you to the hospital._ '

"W-What happened?" Alec wondered aloud.

"' _Brave Lightwood boy gets injured during break in_ ,'" Izzy relayed, reading off her phone. "The story's just now getting out. Apparently Max tried to fight the intruder and got hurt. They're waiting for him to recover in order to identify who it was he saw."

"Mom and Dad would've _never_ let Max do something like that."

"Yeah, the rumors say that Dad left him alone for some reason that's still being verified. Some say he was just going to buy lunch, others think he was doing some drug deal, others think it was an affair."

"The internet is never reliable. We need to hear this from them. How long until that escort arrives?"

* * *

"So, good news, kiddos!" Ren exclaimed.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Kan asked.

"Well, I talked to Ithuriel - you know, my brother slash best friend - and showed him Magnus's designs. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself! Anyway, he showed them to all the other bigwigs and things happened here and there, and as time went on I sent him more creations as Magnus continued his work, and now that you're going to start thinking about colleges and such, I figured it was a good time to start moving forward. Long story short, a lot of people and colleges are interested in your talent, Magnus! Oh, and don't worry, I've taken Alec into account recently and filtered out colleges that are foreign or don't have something for him as well. Most of the ones that I've picked for you to look at have plenty of departments and are very diverse. You can talk to Alexander about it with him, but here."

Ren pulled out a stack of letters and brochures and passed them to Magnus.

"And before you say it, I'll be paying for things, yes, and you can pay me back once you've become rich and famous. Consider me like your student loans except I'm nicer and give you all the time you need. Studying and taking classes while working a job isn't exactly an efficient process, so know that you can take all the time you need."

"I…Ren, these are…I-I can't-" Magnus stuttered.

"You _can_. Look, I'm already working on a better system for student loan and such with the company, and you'll be my first test subject. I know you're a good kid that'll pay me back. Besides, you're like a son to me, and it's a father's job to spoil his kids."

"And raise them properly, of course," Kandai added.

"Yeah, that too. Oh, and let's not forget the famous people who've sent notes to request your work. I've talked to a couple and filtered out the nice people from the 'I'm just going to use you' people."

"I…I don't deserve this, Ren!" Magnus exclaimed. "This is too much!"

"I've also contacted all your little buddies too, and trust me, you've got a _lot_. Don't think you're the only one I'm doing this for. You _do_ realize that one of the branches of my company funds your school, right?"

"All those scholarship opportunities that are popping up?" Shu remembered.

"Yuppy-doe-doe. Look, philanthropy is my thing, kiddo. I've convinced my family that doing the right thing gets us good attention which helps us grow which helps us help people which makes us look good which helps us get positive attention which helps us grow which helps us help people! See? It's a win-win-win situation."

Kan leaned over from his morning coffee and kissed Ren on the cheek. " _You_ are amazing."

"And _you_ look terrible."

"Love you too."

"You look like a vampire, working all those night shifts. It's your week off and you need some sun. Come on, get dressed, mister."

Ren pulled Kandai off, who sighed and chugged his coffee. "The sun is too _bright_."

Shu giggled while Magnus sifted through all of the papers and letters Ren had given him nervously, still in shock.

"Hey, this is great news," She assured him.

"I…I-I know, I just… _wow_."

She patted him on the shoulder. "You should go to Alec's place. Tell him the news."

He nodded, but she wasn't sure if he'd heard her. "Right, right…"

* * *

"Aline Penhallow?" Alec repeated.

"Yeah, check it out! She wrote a personal request for me. She's an LGBT supporter - she just recently got married to Helen Blackthorn, the famous makeup artist that got famous from winning that Face Off TV show."

"Wait, the Helen that's doing the designs for the Fair Folk in the Shadowhunter series? _That_ Helen Blackthorn?"

"Yeah, that one!"

"And you get the work with them?!"

"Yes! Alexander, this is _wonderful!_ And of course you're going to come with me. Ren took everything into account and picked out colleges in the nearby area. They've got _everything_ , so no matter what business you go into, there'll be a place for you. Of course they're still looking for talent, they're not just gonna take you because Ren paid them off - he believes in hard workers who have good hearts, but he knows who you are."

"Yeah," Alec nodded. "That's…that's amazing."

Magnus leaned to move into Alec's line of sight, as he was currently looking at the floor off the edge of the bed. "You seem distracted. Did something happen?"

Alec opened his mouth to tell Magnus what had happened, but hesitated. Magnus was in such a good mood right now - this was a brilliant opportunity for him, and Alec would be able to come with Magnus to meet his heroes and go to college with a paid scholarship from Ren's family's company. Magnus didn't need this weight on his shoulders.

"Nothing much. Just that my parents are taking me and Izzy to the Lightwood company for some meeting. They want us to visit and get into the family business. I'll be gone for a few days, visiting New York, but don't worry, they can't force me into anything. I'll be totally available to follow you _anywhere_ you go."

Magnus smiled in relief. "Well, what do you think you're going to do?"

Alec sighed. "I…really have no clue. I know what I'm good at, I know what I want, but they don't really coincide. I'm good in business, in math and science, but I really want to do acting, maybe directing shows like Shadowhunters - except I'd make all the stuff accurate to the book's lore. The only problem is that I've never done drama before. I choke up when I have an audience - mostly because this isn't a world where being dramatic is a normal thing. Not taking everything seriously is how I get along in this world. I don't have any experience."

Magnus chuckled. "Well, you can be anything in this modern day, and it's not like you can't learn. You can't give up just because you're afraid. Everyone's gotta learn at some point. It not like _all_ famous actors and artists knew their passion from the moment they were born, acting as babies, dancing before they could walk, and playing instruments before they'd even reached elementary school. Some people just figure out what they want later in life. A lot of people go through trial and error to find out what they're good at."

Alec took a deep breath. "And that's what I'm worried about. How long until I figure it out? How many times will I fail? Will I be _happy_ when I finally find out what I'm good at?"

"You need to do what's in your heart. They say if you're not happy in your job then you shouldn't be doing it. We'll figure things out, and I'll be by your side the entire time."

Alec smiled. "Thanks, Magnus."

Magnus kissed him lightly. "Any time."

* * *

Magnus opened his laptop to email Aline about his response, how he was excited to work with her and Helen. He figured that he might as well do some research on the two of them first, see more of their design styles and work.

The first thing that he noticed when he opened a new tab was the hype about Aline and Helen's wedding that happened recently. The box with recent news slid through a few slides: Helen and Aline's wedding, the newest iPhone coming out, Kingdom Hearts III hype after about a decade or so of waiting, top 10 vacation spots, a woman arrested for some brawl in a store, the Lightwood break in, the latest top notch heavy duty trucks, 0% interest credit card deals-

Wait what?

Magnus clicked the arrow to go back a couple slides and clicked on the link. He was taken to a news article about a break in at the Lightwood Industries where the youngest Lightwood - Max - was badly injured and was recovering at the hospital. He was the only one who saw the intruder, but many people suspect Valentine Morgenstern's rival company. There were rumors about how and why Robert Lightwood - Alec's father - had left Max alone at the company building in the first place.

Why hadn't Alec told him about this? No wonder he'd seemed a bit out of it earlier.

Alec was going to be leaving today for New York to visit his family and probably visit Max in the hospital. Magnus quickly dug a suitcase out of his closet and started shoving some clothes and supplies inside. Kandai and Ren would understand if he called them later (they were out on a date right now in the city so it wasn't the time to interrupt them).

Magnus rushed out and grabbed the keys to the car (Shu would understand, he'd send her a text about where to pick it up) and drove to Alec's house as fast as he could while still keeping at the speed limit. When he arrived, he saw Alec and Izzy loading their own suitcases into the trunk of a fancy black truck. Magnus parked his car across the street and then grabbed his suitcase from the back seat, rushing over before Alec closed the trunk.

"Alexander!"

Alec looked up in surprise as Magnus pulled the trunk door open again and set his suitcase inside.

"I'm coming with you."

"What? Magnus-"

"No arguing. You think I wouldn't find out what happened?"

Alec blinked in confusion before frowning. "Curse the modern day internet."

Magnus chuckled. "You're not going without me. Kandai and Ren will understand. Come on, let's go."

"Magnus is coming with us?!" Izzy called from the front seat (having called dibs).

Alec sighed. "Apparently."

The two of them hopped into the back seat and the driver their parents hired took them to the airport where they boarded a Lightwood private jet.

"And you made _me_ pay for prom tickets," Magnus sneered.

"Ha, ha. I'm sorry my parents don't send me buckets of money, but I've got a limited allowance. Don't tell Mom and Dad I said this, but Ren's family's Mortal Instruments company is _way_ bigger than the Lightwood Industries."

"Well, it's only the truth. Mortal Instruments dabbles in practically every business out there. I bet they bought out Lightwood Industries."

Alec punched his arm. "Shut up."

Magnus laughed as they boarded, heading for New York and the rest of Alec's family. Magnus sent a quick text to Ren and Kan before turning his phone off, not really wanting to face their replies - Shu's in particular when she found out she'd been ditched.

"I'm coming, Max," Magnus heard Alec mutter.

* * *

"Ugh, jet lag," Izzy muttered.

"We're only a couple hours in difference, Iz," Alec pointed out.

"Whatever."

They were given their bags and got into another car that took them to the Lightwood mansion where Alec's parents and Max lived when they weren't out on business.

"Mom!" Alec called when they arrived.

"Alec."

Maryse Lightwood was a strict woman, but she was a hard worker. She'd made mistakes in the past as a teenager, but had worked ever since to make a new name for herself. Now she was the head of a successful corporation along with her husband and had three wonderful children.

Normally Maryse was completely composed and a strict parent for show, but at the moment, she looked stressed and on the verge of breaking down.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Izzy asked. "Did something happen? Is Max getting worse?"

"I'll explain everything when your brother arrives," Maryse promised. "For now, settle into your rooms. Of course your… _friend_ is welcome."

"Jace is coming too?" Alec asked.

Maryse nodded. "He's a part of his family just as you are."

The two of them nodded and headed up the stairs with Magnus following behind.

"We have plenty of guest rooms," Alec informed Magnus. "Izzy and my rooms are over this way and you can have the one that's next door."

Magnus nodded. "Thank you, Alexander."

"What do you think's wrong?" Izzy wondered. "I've never seen Mom so distraught. Is Max gonna be okay? He's at the best hospital in New York, right? Mom and Dad wouldn't accept anything less."

Alec put his hand on Izzy's shoulder. "He's gonna be _fine_ , Izzy. Max is tough, you know that."

She nodded. "Right, right. Why didn't Jace just take a plane with us? How long until he gets here? Can we go see Max?"

"Calm down, Izzy. I'm sure Jace isn't far behind us."

Izzy nodded and went into her room while Alec dropped his stuff in his and showed Magnus to his.

"Max is fine, right?" Alec asked.

Magnus nodded. "He's gonna recover, Alexander. It's gonna be okay."

Alec nodded, taking a deep breath. "It's gonna be okay."

* * *

"There you are, Magnus!"

The door to his room opened and, to his surprise, Shu came stomping in with a rolling suitcase behind her.

"Shu, how did you-?"

"I came with Jace and Clary when I heard the news from Ren and Papa. Nevermind that, how could _you_ leave me behind?! I'm your sister, your partner in crime, the brains and the brawn to your glitter!"

"I take offense to that."

She sighed. "Whatever. Come on, we're going to visit Max."

She set her suitcase next to Magnus's and grabbed his hand, pulling him out and down the stairs to the limo where everyone else was already getting in.

"Mom, _now_ will you tell us what's going on?" Izzy asked.

"When we get there, sweetheart," Maryse promised.

The rest of the drive was filled with awkward silence. Magnus got a feeling that he shouldn't be here, that this was a situation for the Lightwood family and the Lightwood family alone.

When they arrived, only the Lightwoods were allowed into Max's room - Jace counting as family as well, leaving Shu, Magnus, and Clary waiting outside.

"Jace seemed really stressed," Clary revealed. "Max is his family too."

"It's up to us to support them through this, right?" Magnus asked.

"Right," Shu nodded.

* * *

Alec hugged Izzy as she rested her hand on the side rail on Max's bed. The youngest Lightwood had numerous bruises and cuts, was hooked up to a ton of equipment, using a tube to breathe, as well as wrapped in a couple casts for broken bones.

"How bad is it?" Jace dared to ask.

"He has a few cracked ribs, a broken arm, a concussion, a lot of blood loss, and a crushed windpipe, along with all of the cuts and bruises," Maryse recounted. "They're attempting to recreate the situation, but it looks like he attempted throwing some items at his attacker, but whoever it was retaliated by throwing a vase at his head. Max fought hard but was choked and nearly beaten to death. If he hadn't been found when he was, he probably might not have made it."

"Did they get anything to help find out who did this?" Alec asked.

"Max was smart, he sliced his attacker to get a blood sample, he clawed at the person to try and get any DNA possible. The police are investigating now, but if Max can confirm anything when he wakes, they'll have solid proof."

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Izzy demanded. "He's gonna wake up, he's gonna recover!"

Maryse moved to hug Izzy. "Only time will tell, but he's in stable condition for now. He just needs a little time to heal, but he _should_ be okay."

"He _should?_ "

"He _will_ ," Jace corrected. "He will. You know Max. He's a stubborn kid, he'll pull through."

Alec grabbed Max's glasses on the table next to the window, one of the lenses cracked and the other completely gone. The frame was slightly bent out of shape and one of the temples that went over Max's ears had been snapped off. Alec had always thought that the glasses were too big for Max, but he'd assured his big brother that he'd grow into them. Max wanted so desperately to grow up and be respected, to stop being treated like a kid just because he was the youngest. Maybe that's what made him run into the fray so carelessly against an intruder rather than call for help first - Max wanted to prove that he could handle himself, that he was an adult.

"I'll never treat you like a kid again, Max," Alec promised. "Just come back to us, please."

* * *

"The doctors say that he's stable," Alec reported. "He just needs time to heal."

"Told you it would be okay," Magnus smiled gently.

Alec nodded. "Yeah." He let out a deep sigh. "So, we have a little time in New York. Who wants McDonalds?"

* * *

"You know, this would be a great place to live," Magnus commented.

"You like the city?" Alec asked. "It seems pretty chaotic to me."

"He _loves_ the _chaos_ ," Shu corrected. "My brother _thrives_ from stress and people and a method to the madness."

"Well _my_ brother likes to use method to _prevent_ the madness," Izzy informed them.

"And Jace likes to use madness to prevent _method_ ," Clary challenged.

"I do _not_ ," Jace protested.

"You do," Alec and Izzy said in unison.

Magnus, Shu, and Clary broke out into laughter while Jace crossed his arms and accepted it. "Well, I take _pride_ in that statement."

The six of them tried to enjoy their time in New York, getting their minds off of Max's condition and assuring each other that he was going to be fine.

Magnus's phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out to see that he was getting a call from a private number. Magnus declined it for fear of stranger danger, but then his email notification popped up and showed that he'd gotten a response from Aline. He clicked on the email to open it and saw that Aline had sent two different messages.

The first was all about how she was happy to have Magnus aboard and couldn't wait to meet him and Alec, but the second was a simple ' _I'm calling you with this number. Please pick up if you're free._ '

Magnus went back into his call list and confirmed the number before pressing the call button. "I gotta take this, guys."

He slipped away to be outside of the busy restaurant before putting the phone to his ear.

" _Magnus!_ "

"Uh, yes?" He asked hesitantly.

" _It's me, Aline! Ren'ai recommended you to me!_ "

"How did you get this number?" He asked.

" _I have my methods. And Ren gave me it._ "

"Oh, that makes sense. But why are you calling me?"

" _Well, I heard you were in New York. Me and Helen are here shooting a show, but I figured we could meet up!_ "

"Wait, Helen works on the make up for the Shadowhunters show, right?"

" _Yeah, that's the one! You a fan?_ "

"Of course! Me, my friends, my family and ditto for my boyfriend."

" _You can come and join us on the set for a day! As long as your friends behave, of course. Am I moving too fast? I can tend to do that._ " Her voice grew more distant as she apparently turned away from the phone. " _Am I moving too fast?_ "

" _That's up to Magnus,_ " Another voice said in the background.

" _Am I moving too fast?_ " Aline asked Magnus again. " _Sorry, I'm just really excited to meet you. Ren's sent me all your work and has been hyping you up for so long! But if I'm moving too fast, don't be afraid to tell me._ "

"Well we'd love to come, I'm sure, but when?"

" _Any time you're free. This is practically a 24/7 operation over here. How about tomorrow at 7. I'll send you an address that we're currently shooting at._ "

"I'll ask the others, but sure, that'd be great."

" _Great! Oh, and bring some more pics of your work, if you can. I'd love to see more - Ren's told me you made quite the collection for prom with your friends._ "

Magnus chuckled. "Sure, I'd be happy to. See you."

Magnus said his goodbyes to Aline and then headed back in to the others.

"What was that about?" Clary asked.

" _That_ was Aline," Magnus said.

"Aline?" Izzy asked. "As in Aline Penhallow?"

"The one and only. And guess what she just offered."

* * *

"I can't believe we're really going to the real set!" Izzy exclaimed. "You chose the _best boyfriend EVER!_ "

Alec chuckled. "Well, it's not like it was my intention. I just wrote a note on a desk."

"And so began the cutest love story ever," Shu sighed.

"Not _really_ ," Magnus protested. "I mean it wasn't _that_ interesting. I just wrote my number in a simple code and then we started hanging out and I started liking him and then I asked him out but he low key rejected me and then realized that he'd low key rejected me because he _hadn't_ realized he low key rejected me when he low key rejected me and then we went on a date and it was nice - I got whipped cream on my face - and then-"

"Magnus, _calm down_ ," Shu interjected. " _Breathe_."

Magnus did as she said and took deep breaths. "Right, right, yes, all good."

A limo pulled up as Aline rolled down the window and waved. She hopped out the moment that the vehicle came to a stop and instantly spotted Magnus (as he was pretty recognizable). Aline's face wasn't exactly foreign to Magnus, as he'd looked up to her among others as a designer, but even more so recently as he'd done his research before meeting her. She was half-Asian, with curved cheekbones, dark brown, round, almond-shaped eyes, a delicate, pointed chin, straight, black hair, and a small stature.

Though she was well known for her fashion designs, she also dabbled in ice sculpting as a hobby and had done a couple of the ice sculpture props for the show - which meant she had to make multiple versions of each sculpture for the days of shooting that usually took place for any given scene, and she had to make them exactly the same each time. She excelled at the detailed craft just as she did with fashion designs.

Aline gave a warm smile. "You must be Magnus Bane. You look even sparklier in person."

Magnus chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment. And you're Aline Penhallow."

"Well, _Blackthorn_ -Penhallow, but semantics. So, who are all your friends?"

"This is Clary and Jace, my sister Shu, my boyfriend Alec, and his sister Isabelle."

Aline happily shook all their hands. "It's nice to meet you all. Come on, we should hurry to the set if we wanna make it before Helen finishes. Lucky for you all, she's decorating some Seelies right about now."

"Awesome!" Izzy exclaimed.

Aline took them to the set, filled to the brim with workers all around. Aline had their pictures taken for their I.D. passes and then she guided them to a make up room where they found the actors being dressed up. While all of them were giddy with excitement, Magnus was still nervous as hell thinking about showing his work to Aline. It wasn't as though any of the pictures he took were professional - he'd taken them with his phone camera in his room while attempting to get the lighting and angles right as best he could. Aline was a nice enough person, but he still worried about making her regret her decision. What if she began to reconsider but still accepted Magnus just because she was trying to be nice? Magnus didn't want to burden her like that.

"Helen! They're here!" Aline called.

One of the women that they had assumed was a part of the Seelie crew of actors turned with a smile. Helen Blackthorn was pale, beautiful, and petite, fully dressed up as a faerie to add to her loveliness. She had pale, white-gold hair that fell in ringlets tucked back to show off her pointed ears as well as blue-green eyes that popped against her light skin.

"You're Magnus, hello!" Helen greeted instantly. "And all your friends, hi! I'm Helen Penhallow-Blackthorn."

"Blackthorn-Penhallow," Aline corrected.

"We're working on it," Helen waved off casually. "Anyway, I'm glad you could make it. I've looked at Magnus's designs with Aline and I can't wait to work with you. Jade, don't pick at your ears like that! Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, right! Aline said you were bringing some new pics!"

Magnus tensed and pulled out his phone. "O-Oh, right, I have them here. They're not professional pictures or anything, but-"

" _None_ of the pictures that Ren sent us were professional, but here we are," Aline assured him. "The rest of you are free to explore the set and meet the actors. Just try not to be too bothersome. I informed them of your arrival, so they should be prepared for you. They have a couple things planned for you guys just on the fly while we're setting up."

"Amazing! Let's go!" Izzy exclaimed, pulling the nearest person (Jace) along with her.

Aline and Helen both swiped through Magnus's gallery with all his pictures of the recent projects for their prom.

"I _love_ this dress," Helen exclaimed, looking at Shu's Phoenix-stripped white prom dress. "Can we use this design for the mourning dress?"

"We can certainly ask," Aline said. "These are amazing, Magnus. And it took you _how_ long to customize these?"

"Oh, about 18 hours for my suit and 15 hours for the dress. So it took me about two days."

"Did you even eat and sleep?! This is professional work that usually takes _weeks_."

"It's not really professional. The fabric I used was cheap and I cut a few corners, basically throwing _all_ the tutorials and actual _real_ patterns away for improvisation."

"Well for cheap improvisation, you sure know how to _make_ it look real," Helen commented. "And isn't that the art of _all_ marketing? Making cheap stuff look professional? You'll fit in quite nicely around here."

Magnus chuckled nervously while Aline laughed. "She's kidding, but she _is_ right about you fitting in. We'd be happy to have you aboard as my apprentice."

"R-Really? I mean, if it's not too much trouble…"

"Oh, we knew we wanted you from the moment we first saw your work and Ren told us how nice you are! Now that we've actually met you to confirm things, we want you around as soon as possible."

"She's right, you know. Now, I gotta hurry up and finish with the rest of our Fair Folk over here, but we'll be in touch!"

Helen waved and went over to finish the make up of one of the Seelies and then a pointed ear of another.

"Here's Helen's contact information, and you have my number in your phone from our call," Aline said, handing Magnus a card. "We're excited to be working with you, Magnus Bane."

* * *

"That was _amazing_ ," Clary exclaimed. "They showed us the weapons, we got some runes drawn on by professionals and we each got Steles from our favorite characters!"

" _I_ got these contacts and this bracelet for my own Warlock Mark," Shu corrected. "Here, I got the High Warlock of Brooklyn's Warlock Mark for you, Magnus."

"Cool."

"Did things go well with Helen and Aline?" Alec asked.

"Thing went…brilliantly! I'm in! I'm going to be Aline's personal apprentice!"

"That's amazing, Magnus! Congratulations!"

"We knew you'd be accepted," Shu said.

"As if there was any doubt," Izzy shrugged.

"If they didn't see how incredible you are, then they wouldn't have been worthy of you," Clary agreed.

"Gotta admit, you're gonna go far," Jace added.

"Thanks everyone," Magnus sighed. "But that was a nerve-wracking day."

"I say we get celebratory ice cream," Shu suggested.

"Totally." "Yeah!" "Oh, yes please." "I'm in." "I don't see why not."

The group went and bought their ice cream ("It's _frozen yogurt_ , Alec." "Whatever, Izzy.") and enjoyed the night together before heading back to the Lightwood mansion. The moment they arrived, they saw Maryse waiting for them, looking solemn.

"Mom, is something wrong?" Izzy asked.

She nodded gently. "I hope you're not too full for dinner."

* * *

"What's this all about?" Izzy demanded half way though her meal.

Maryse set down her glass of wine, clearing her throat and sitting forward. "They found out why your father left Max alone."

"What?" Jace questioned.

Maryse hesitated for a long moment before Alec spoke up. "Is dad cheating on you?"

Maryse didn't respond, but her stoic façade began to break down as she struggled not to cry.

"Bastard," Jace muttered.

"Understatement," Izzy hissed.

Maryse wiped her tears and took a deep breath. "I'd had my suspicions before, but when your father found out I was pregnant with Max, things got better. _This_ … _this_ was _not_ how I wanted to find out that…"

"Where is he?" Alec demanded.

Maryse sniffled and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. "Oh, he's facing the media's wrath right about now. Let's just say the story got leaked pretty quickly."

"Do you know who the woman is? I mean we could-"

" _No_ , Alec. Just…enough. I don't want this to get any bigger than it already is. This isn't going to lead to some vendetta; the press is going to handle most of the punishment if you're concerned he's going to get off without his comeuppance."

"Mom…" Izzy began. "What…what are you gonna do?"

Maryse sighed, wiping her face of tears quickly. "Well…I'm taking Max, when he recovers. There's little chance Robert will be allowed custody of him. And after that…" She took a deep breath. "…I suppose…life will go on."

"You should come home with us, Maryse," Jace suggested. "We're close to graduating and we could work together in the company. I think you deserve a break from all the traveling around."

Maryse gave a weak but warm smile. "That…That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Magnus and Clary exchanged glances. They clearly both felt out of place in this conversation, but they were going to support the Lightwood (Jace was a Herondale technically, but he'd practically been raised a Lightwood since his grandmother, Imogen, worked in the company with Maryse so their families were close) family in this dark moment in time.

Magnus took Alec's hand under the table and gave him a smile to try and covey his support, while Clary did the same with Jace. Shu, meanwhile, acted as Izzy's support, putting a hand on her shoulder and nodding to Alec's sister. Izzy nodded back, taking her mom's hand and muttering encouraging things while also suggesting they move the conversation to a brighter topic.

Maryse took a deep breath to compose herself and let out a sigh, giving a weak smile as she sat forward in her seat. "So, boys. Tell me about your significant others that you've been seeing. In all the chaos, I don't think we've had the time to address this situation."

Alec and Jace exchanged a weary glance that said clearly ' _You first!_ '

Evidently, it seemed that Alec won the stare-off, as Jace sighed and slumped in his seat.

Well, this was going to be good.

* * *

"You think he can hear me?" Alec asked.

"Only one way to find out," Magnus said, his arm around Alec's waist as they stood beside Max's bedside.

Magnus gently urged Alec to go forward, releasing his hand as he sat at the chair beside Max's bed.

"Hey, Max. I know it's been a while since you've stayed home with us, but Mom plans to take you back. You'll probably be joining me in high school when we get back, with your brains. Izzy will be jealous. She's been waiting to get to high school for _ages_ now. Also driving, she's eager to drive. That's something you won't be able to beat her at, but that's okay. You gotta let her have _something_."

Alec went on rambling, realizing that it had been _months_ since he'd seen Max and there was so much to catch him up on.

He hoped Max could hear him.

* * *

"You think he'd like this stuffed bear?" Magnus asked.

Alec shrugged. "Not sure. It's the thought that counts, though."

Magnus frowned. "I mean, if Max wouldn't want it, we wouldn't want it to go to _waste_."

The bear's new home would soon be Magnus's nightstand.

"You think Max would like _me?_ " Magnus realized. "I mean, Maryse wasn't outright against us, but…she seemed a bit nervous at the subject."

"Well, I wasn't really out to her or Dad yet. They pushed a couple times by asking me if I had a girlfriend yet, but when I said no they didn't push the matter any further. It just kinda never came up and neither of them cared."

"At least she didn't blow up. That's more than enough for me."

"I'm not sure how Max would react. He's a smart kid for sure, but I'd imagine he wouldn't be interested in my love life. It would just pass right over his head."

"I'm sure he idolizes you. You're his big brother."

"Yeah, but we weren't attached at the hip or anything. In our household, we kinda just coexist - we don't resent each other, we don't go to extreme lengths to not talk to each other or stay in different rooms or anything, but we're also not perfect brothers who are perfect best friends either. We talk to each other when we need to and it's not awkward, but we also wouldn't go out of our way to learn about each other's lives."

"So not bad, but not great. Acceptable. As long as he doesn't make things awkward between us, I'm once again golden. Shu's always been a pain in my opinion, but I love her all the same."

"Izzy's that way too. Sisters are a lot different than brothers."

Magnus kissed Alec on the cheek. "You and your brother should take this opportunity to get to know each other better. You can't stay just acquaintances forever - you're family."

A smile tugged at Alec's lips from Magnus's support. Anything Magnus did, really, it sent a wave of warmth through him. "I know, Magnus. I'm never gonna let another second with him pass by."

* * *

The days continued in New York. Magnus - any by extension everyone else in his posse - got to visit the Shadowhunters set and help out Aline as well as watch the filming.

Aline and Magnus got to work on new pieces together, Magnus getting a rush from the busy schedule, the long hours, the time spent staring at a piece of paper trying to have an epiphany about a new style or design. He was a natural, Helen had said.

Alec, meanwhile, didn't understand how Magnus survived, but then again, Magnus had reserves of energy that were better left unquestioned. He could party all night without breaking a sweat, Shu had said, and so this work schedule was just the change up Magnus needed to keep entertained.

Alec and his siblings visited Max regularly. Alec talked to Max for ages, thinking of all the things that he planned to do with Max when he woke up. Max was still a kid in Alec's eyes and he deserved the chance to be one.

"Is he recovering?" Alec dared to ask one day.

The nurse pursed her lips and looked at the myriad of data and charts on Max. "It will certainly take a very long time, but his body will recover eventually. We've got him set up so that he should heal properly with little to no permanent damage, but his mind has been silent ever since. We can't say when he'll wake up, but we don't _want_ him to wake up when in his current condition. Consciousness would only make his stay more miserable, unable to move or interact with anyone. Just give him time to rest and…and keep talking to him. It will help his brain activity if he hears familiar voices. Even if he won't wake up for a while, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't let his mind atrophy from lack of use."

Alec nodded. That was simple enough.

Magnus, on top of all his work with Aline and getting set up to be her apprentice, along with working out all the college credits he still needed to earn on top of his work with her, somehow managed to make time for Alec - more than Alec expected.

"How's Max doing?"

Alec gave him his best summary of what he'd been told.

"Ah, that's good. You should have plenty of stories to tell him. Not to mention Izzy and Jace help out too. You can all take shifts."

"I'm not so sure I want Jace to be teaching Max _anything_. Considering his track record with women, his attitude, his hubris…"

Magnus laughed. "Can't argue with that. But Clary's straightening him out, bit by bit. Biscuit has some miracle powers that resists Jace's so called 'charm.'"

Alec chuckled. At one point in his life, when he was still figuring out his sexuality, he had once fallen for Jace's charm too. But then he grew up with Jace, learned how obnoxious he could be when you spent too much time with him. Not to mention he learned to accept that Jace could never like him like that, that Jace was a ladies man, and though he could charm the naïve classic teenage girls, he would've been labeled as a jerk that broke the heart of every girl he passed within a matter of hours by TV show standards. Adding on the fact that Alec didn't understand his attraction to the female species, Jace was an enigma that Alec wanted to take a _big_ step back from - especially when he hit puberty.

"Note to self, keep Jace from teaching Max _anything_ about women."

"Duly noted."

* * *

"Is Max a fan of Shadowhunters?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's, like, the one thing we talked about to get a conversation started whenever he visited."

"Maybe I can get him something from the set as a present."

* * *

"Check it out."

Magnus handed Alec his phone.

"There's a fundraiser sponsored by the cast to help Max in his recovery."

Alec blinked. "Was this your idea?"

"No. I just mentioned it to Aline and asked if there was a gift that she suggested, and then word got out about it with the cast, and suddenly everyone's on board and wishing Max well."

Alec smiled gently at the phone. "Max would be so excited to hear he's got all this attention."

"Well, when he wakes up, the internet will blow."

"He's never had the chance to be a kid before. Maybe he can finally have something to nerd out about with the rest of us, and he can have fun seeing the set."

* * *

The days went by with little conversations between Magnus and Alec when visiting Max. Sometimes the others popped in - Clary, Jace, Izzy, Shu, Maryse, or a certain combination of two or more.

Alec was beginning to get quieter each time though. Max had plenty of gifts, from flowers, to balloons, to cards, with tons of extra support on social media. Meanwhile, Magnus saw the story about Robert Lightwood and his affair getting out and blowing up. There was tons of ridicule about how his infidelity was bad enough, but now his youngest son was dying. It was very exaggerated, how Max was on the verge of death, but other news stations confirmed that Max was alive and recovering well.

Magnus didn't ask Alec how he felt about the media situation, and Alec didn't even seem to know. He was purposefully avoiding talking to any newscasters or interviewers, and opted to avoid social media on his phone. Magnus understood why. Alec didn't care about any of that at this point - he just wanted his little brother back.

"You think he's getting better?" Alec asked one day.

"I'm sure of it," Magnus assured him.

Max was still hooked up to the regular equipment that he had been ever since the Lightwood family (plus their extras) had arrived. How many days had it been? How many weeks? Had it been a month yet? More?

"Hey, it's gonna take time," Magnus said, resting his hand on Alec's shoulder. "Those kids that are taking athletic classes? They've been seen in crutches for practically half the school year at minimum. Don't be surprised if it's a few more weeks before he wakes up, as long as he wakes up in the end. You need a distraction. How about I take you to dinner? We are _long_ overdue for another date."

Alec rolled his eyes but scoffed. "Sure. What do you wanna do?"

"We're in New York. Obviously, we need to try some pizza."

Alec laughed. "Wanna Google the nearest and cheapest pizza place?"

"Darling, I've got a big enough budget now that we don't _have_ to go for the cheapest."

"Magnus-"

"Let me spoil my boyfriend who's going through a tough time, all right? Besides, it may be a _bigger_ budget, but it's still a budget. I'm not gonna buy you a million dollar pizza."

"They _make_ those?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Google to the rescue!"

Alec laughed and allowed Magnus to take him on their date to cheer him up. They ended up sharing a pizza, Magnus making a funny face so that Alec laughed and nearly choked. He got sauce all over his face and Magnus courteously wiped it off.

"We should do this every week," Magnus said. "It'll keep your spirits up. Next week's ice cream, 'kay?"

Alec smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

"So what's the second derivative of number 26?"

"Eighteen x squared plus ten."

"And what do the zeros of the equation tell you?"

"The…the parts where the curvature changes."

"And how does that help you find the max of the original equation?"

"The places where the curvature switches from positive to negative are the maxes and mins."

"No, that's the first derivative. The second just tells you whether it's a max or a min based on the sign."

Alec wrote down the notes of the lesson for the hundredth time. Stupid calculus being easy but difficult. Like, he _knew_ how to do the stuff, but when he was asked 'Find x, y, or z' he didn't know what the question was asking of him. Why were there _two_ derivatives?!

"Let's try number 27," Shu suggested.

Alec's phone rang. "In a sec."

"Don't think you're getting out of this!" She called as Alec walked out of the room to answer it.

"Hello?"

" _Alec?_ "

It was his mom. There was a shaking in her voice that Alec instantly picked up on, and suddenly he grew concerned.

"Mom? What is it?"

" _Are your brother and sister with you?_ "

Alec looked into the other room where Jace and Clary were on the couch doing history homework together while Izzy was reading a book for her English class and taking notes.

"Yeah. Why? Is something wrong?"

" _Come over to the hospital, right now. All of you._ "

"What? Why?"

" _Alec…he's gone. Max_ _…it_ _…he passed away a couple minutes ago._ "

* * *

 **Oh, I'm so evil!**

 **I'm sorry, but it's canonical, people. Why do I hate my characters so much?! Oh!**

 **But this was so much fun to write, I'm sorry it took so long to update and I'm sorry it was so long because I tried _so_ hard to keep this a two-shot.**

 **PS, I know very little about the fashion industry and just as much about the film industry. A lot of things I wrote about are probably inaccurate, but oh well?**


	3. Little Apologies

**Bah! It's a three-shot! Dammit!**

 ***Bangs head against desk* I just can't stop myself! Bad brain, bad brain, bad brain, just find a way to make a one-shot and then end it right there at _one_ chapter!**

 **Listen to Avril Lavigne's " _Head Above Water_ " while reading this chapter. Like, it is the perfect song for this chapter. Every lyric describes this chapter in summary.**

 **On that depressing note (quite literally)**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR AND STUFF!**

 **Did December just disappear in the blink of an eye? We haven't gotten any snow here, I mean maybe a little, but nothing that gave us a white Christmas or New Year either. And once I go back to school, I have to throw myself at a musical, so yeah, that'll be fun.**

 **Until then, it is thanks to my new New Year's resolution to finish this story that you've got this. It's not what I planned, but it happened, so have at it.**

 **Yeah, I used stuff from _Born to Endless Night_ , I love it, you should too. What'cha gon' do 'bout it?**

 **And now, I present to you, my final post of 2018!**

 **Enjoy~! :)**

* * *

Alec sighed and ran his hand through his hair, trying to concentrate on his work.

" _I'm leaving," Alec announced._

 _"Leaving?" Magnus asked. "Leaving where?"_

 _"I have to go to a business conference in Italy. Now that my dad's officially been fired, I figured that I'd step up and start learning about my family's business."_

 _Magnus blinked. "Oh_ _…o-okay. Yeah, I totally get that. How long will you be gone?"_

 _Alec shrugged. "A couple months."_

 _"Months? How long does a business conference take in your industry?"_

 _"Well, I also have to go to the U.K. for another. And Japan."_

 _Magnus tried to comprehend what he was saying. "So_ _…you're really getting into this."_

 _Alec nodded._

 _"Well, I'm_ happy _for you, Alexander. If this is what you wanna do, I'm not gonna stop you."_

 _Alec nodded, staring at the floor._

 _Magnus tilted his head. "There's more, isn't there?"_

 _Alec took a deep breath. "Look, I-_ "

"Alec."

He looked up to see Izzy standing at the door. She had matured quite well since she was in middle school. Now, she could turn the eye of everyone, man or woman, the moment she walked past, and she had an air of danger to her, a scowl that said she could kick your ass and look good doing it even if you were twice her size. She now resembled their mom heavily, and she was also working hard in their business just like their mom. Still, Izzy had kept her flare from her teenage years. She was just starting college while also working for the company, so Alec could hardly comprehend how she managed to _not_ look like she was going insane from the workload.

"The others wanna know if you're coming," she said lightly.

He sighed. He needed a break from work, that was evident, but he also wasn't sure he was in the mood for a holiday party.

" _I'm not sure I can do this."_

 _"What are you saying…?_ "

"Alec, we all think you really need this," Izzy was saying. "Come on, Jace and Clary are going to come up here and drag you by force if I don't.

" _Magnus this is for my_ mom _a-and Max. Not to mention Jace and Izzy. After everything they've been through, I'm not gonna be selfish and just_ abandon _them."_

 _"So you'll abandon me instead?_ "

"Fine," Alec sighed. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

"I'll hold you to that, big brother."

She closed the door to his office and he heard the sound of her heels clopping away - even on the carpet. He dug through the drawer on his desk where he'd prepared the Christmas presents for his friends. They weren't big or fancy, but he put thought into them. He wasn't so out of touch with his friends that he didn't make an effort to be a good friend to them. Five years ago, he had gotten them all charm bracelets so that he could give them a new charm each year.

For Clary, he'd gotten a paintbrush, a pallet of paints, a pencil, a sketchbook, a crayon and now he was going to give her the canvas. For Jace and Izzy, he'd gotten all things Shadowhunter - weapons, steles, witchlights (that actually glowed when you pressed a button), etc. For Izzy, he'd also gotten a high heel shoe because let's be honest, it was _her_. He'd done the same things for Caterina, Ragnor, Raphael, etc. He put thought into everyone, but he knew that soon their charm bracelets would be full and he'd need to come up with something else. Pins, maybe. With so many friends, it was hard to keep up.

Beside the boxes with everyone's separate charms, Alec noticed the simple shopping bag that had five boxes inside - all labeled 'Magnus.' He had given Magnus the bracelet and his first charm, a little flame to try and mimic warlock magic. It had been lame, but it was all that Alec could think of. Magnus had loved it anyway.

Alec grabbed his friends' presents and then slammed the drawer closed with Magnus's still inside. He hadn't given Magnus any of the other five within these past few years.

He headed out to the main floor of the building where the others were having a holiday party. They all took turns hosting different events of the year, and sometimes it was really cozy to just celebrate a small event in someone's home. Clary and Jace had finally gotten married, emphasis on the _finally_ part. They were living together, more than in love, and yet when Jace had first proposed, she had said no. Turns out, she was just afraid of not living up to his expectations, afraid that marriage would change everything. A little convincing here, a little shoving by Izzy there, and the two made up, proposed to each other on the same night, and then everyone went to their wedding armed with a bunch of 'I told you so's.

Alec first stopped at his own private room to change out of his formal work suit. He felt comfortable slipping on a sweater and jeans. He paused a moment, remembering how Magnus had always complained about his holey sweaters and offered to fix them up. He hadn't ever tried to get Alec to buy new ones, like his other friends, because Magnus knew that the sweaters meant something to him. It gave his friends something to complain about, something lighthearted and fun. It was years of having his friends by his side, going through too many complications to keep track of, and making it through together.

" _Will this make you happy? Just tell me that."_

 _Alec opened his mouth to try and say something, but no words came out._

 _"You can still be happy and be there for your family, Alexander. This isn't the only option."_

 _"I was_ helpless _Magnus!" Alec snapped. "I…I-I couldn't do_ anything _while I watched him…_ "

Alec finally headed downstairs with his gifts in hand.

When he emerged from the elevator, he was surprised to find Izzy staring him down, her arms crossed like a parent that had just caught their kid sneaking out.

"I was waiting for you," she explained.

"What would you have done if it wasn't me in the elevator?" he asked.

"I've already scared the heck out of two other employees, let's just leave it at that."

She led him over to the pain lobby where everyone had set up a ton of holiday decorations. There was food on a large buffet table along with drinks in nearly everyone's hands. The building had already been decked out for the holidays, but the doors were closed to anyone who wasn't an employee or invited guest.

"Alec, you finally made it!"

Clary rushed over with Jace in tow. Her small frame hadn't gotten much growth in the past few years. It would be easy for her to pass herself off still as a teenager, but her eyes showed that she was much more mature than she let on. She was always cheerful when the going got tough, and she somehow managed to keep Jace on a leash.

"We were worried we'd have to move the party into your office just to get you to participate."

"I've never missed one year, you know that," Alec protested.

"Yeah, well you're always later and later each year," Jace complained. "One day, you're gonna get assassinated and we'll all think you're just holed up doing work."

"Jace! Where'd you get _that_ idea?" Clary scolded.

He shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Alec gave them their presents with the expected results of Clary getting super excited and hugging him and Jace nodding in appreciation. This year he got Jace one of the family rings from the Shadowhunters series - the mini version to put on the charm bracelet, of course. The boys only ever wore the charm bracelets on the special occasions because of their pride, but Clary had informed Alec that Jace kept his on the box on his nightstand (they lived together) and _did_ value it a lot. Contrary to popular belief, Jace actually cared about someone other than himself. Go figure.

It was a repetitive process as he gave out the rest of the gifts. He still wasn't very good with social interaction, but he knew his friends well enough to get along with them without being nervous or shy.

It was about an hour after he arrived that he saw someone come in that he hadn't expected.

Asushunamir had always looked mature for her age, and so it wasn't a surprise that when she walked in, Alec recognized her instantly. She was half a decade older than when they had been in high school, but she hadn't changed. Though there _was_ one thing: she wasn't smiling. She never smiled anymore, and even when she did, it looked painful just to watch. Her smiled squeezed you from the inside out, as though she was projecting her pain rather than hiding it behind the innocent look.

When she noticed Alec, he saw a prime example of that smile.

"Alexander!"

Her voice was soft and gentle, but it didn't have the energy that it once did. It was like she had planned to shout his name, but didn't take a deep enough breath and so it just came out at half force.

"Shu, hey. Welcome. How've you been?"

It was like that with everyone else, with every encounter. ' _How've you been?_ ' ' _What's been going on in your life?_ ' ' _Who you dating?_ '

She put on that smile again. "Fine. We've been doing well. You?"

" _You're leaving?" Shu demanded._

 _"Shu-"_

 _"No, don't you '_ Shu _' me, Alexander. You have people here for you, you know that, right? You're just gonna leave us? Leave_ Magnus? _I understand that you're guilty, that you're in pain, but this isn't going to help!_ "

She nodded. "Look, I just stopped by for a short visit, so I can't stay, but…Merry Christmas. Tell the others I say hi."

"Where are you going?" Alec blurted. "I mean, what are you doing for the holidays?"

She shrugged. "The cemetery. Then home."

" _They were aiming for Shu, but Charon got in the way," Izzy informed him._

 _"What were they even doing there? All alone?"_

 _"He was gonna propose, Alec. He wanted it to be on a special day, Christmas. Shu's always armed, being the daughter of Kandai and Ren'ai as well as the sister of Magnus Bane. She shot the man with every bullet in the clip at the time. No charges were pressed against her, but she's heartbroken, Alec._ "

"Wait," Alec said, unable to stop himself. "I have something that I've been meaning to pass on through you."

She looked to him curiously. "What?"

"Come on, it's in my office."

She followed him to the elevators and then to his office. He opened the drawer and handed Shu the shopping bag filled with the small boxes of charms for Magnus.

"They're for Magnus. And this one's for you."

He handed her a necklace with the charms that he'd gotten for her, but also a ring that he'd pulled some strings to retrieve - the ring she hadn't gotten on that day, that she more than deserved to have. She took the necklace without a word, never taking her eyes off it. For the first time in a long time, Shu's voice almost broke. Almost.

"T…Thank you…"

She slipped the necklace over her head and slipped the charms beneath her scarf and into her jacket.

"Do you…can you come with me, Alec? To…you know…"

"Sure."

He grabbed his jacket before they headed down the elevator and out the door. He told Izzy that he was going with Shu, and she didn't ask questions. She didn't say anything. She just nodded.

Alec and Shu walked down the sidewalk, breathing in the icy air. Alec saw how Shu, though wearing a scarf, was exposing her neck and looking up to the sky as she walked. She had Asian features, just like her brother, but their similarities ended there. She was reserved when it came to fashion, she kept it simple. Her hair had grown out to her waist, she still wore no makeup, and she seemed to be immune to the curse of acne.

Someone else would love her, he knew it. He just wondered if _she_ would ever be able to love anyone else.

He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of it, the sound of the shutter finally getting her attention. "What are you doing?"

"Sending a picture to Clary. She enlisted all of us to take pictures of everything we could so she could paint or draw it, make it into art. She's got a business, you know. She's got a website and everything."

Shu hummed in amusement but returned her gaze to be straight ahead. They walked in silence to the cemetery, and then Shu showed Alec to where his grave was. Despite the myriad of tombstones, she knew exactly which one to go to.

"Ren'ai insisted he be buried in a good place," Shu explained. There was no emotion in her voice - no hint of tears, but also no hint of love, either. "There's only so much you can do when someone's dead though. No matter how pretty their coffin or tombstone, they're still rotting under the earth."

Alec flinched, but Shu was unaffected and marched forward. When she finally stopped, she stared down at the tombstone as though she was staring at a stranger's tombstone. She was deep in thought, and Alec wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, so he said nothing.

"It's been three years. You'd think the pain gets further away with time."

Alec took a moment to realize that she wasn't speaking to him, she was talking to the grave. She was talking to Charon.

"It doesn't. It just gets worse. At the same time, the pain feels okay."

She put her hand up to her chest where the ring hung under her jacket and scarf.

"Would you want me to move on? I guess that's a dumb question."

She turned away.

"You'd want me to do whatever I wanted, even if it wasn't the right thing."

Alec hurried to catch up as he followed her out of the cemetery. The streets were busy with people having their own little celebrations, but as the night wore on, more and more people were going home to be with their families.

"What's Magnus doing these days?" Alec asked, trying to break the ice.

"Same as always. Business. Nothing but business. Just like you."

She kept her tone flat, but he could hear the accusation in her words. She still blamed Alec for leaving Magnus; hell, he still blamed _himself_.

" _No! No, let me see him! He's not dead, he_ can't _be!"_

 _"Alexander, listen to me," Maryse shouted, taking him by the shoulders. "They've tried to revive him-"_

 _"They should've tried_ harder! _He…he's nine years old, mom…! There_ has _to be something we can do!"_

 _"Alec…"_

 _"This is all_ your _fault! Where were you, huh? Why weren't you with Max?! Why was he just with Dad?! That…that idiot!"_

 _Alec had wanted to say something a lot worse than 'idiot,' but both Izzy and his mom were in the room. He had enough self-control to understand that._

 _"Alec-!" Izzy began._

 _"No! No, just leave me alone!"_

 _"Alexander!" Magnus shouted._

 _"Just_ go away!"

"I've seen him in the news," Alec said. "He's going far. He deserves it, after all. There are some snobs who think that Ren handed him everything, but Ren's been a philanthropist helping others get their fame too."

Shu nodded. "My family's more than famous. Everyone…except me, really."

"That's not true. It took you two years to graduate as a police officer. Always knew you were smart but dang. You fit the part really well, too. Ultimate badass."

She hummed in agreement, but the blank look on her face didn't change. "I always wanted to be a singer, you know that?"

"You would've been great, I have no doubt."

"Shh."

"What? I'm sure-"

"No, seriously, shut up."

She assumed a defensive stance and turned her head, listening. Alec was silent. He realized that this was serious, just before she sprinted off.

"Struggling!"

Alec dashed after her. He wasn't sure what else to do. He wouldn't be of any use in a fight, but he knew the basics of self-defense, at least. He just knew that he didn't want to leave Shu alone. Not tonight.

He followed her, rounding a corner before she turned down an alley. When Alec finally caught up (damn, Shu could run. This coming from the girl that was the slowest runner in high school gym class) he took in the situation as fast as possible. A woman on the ground, a baby beside her crying, a man with his hands up, Shu with a gun raised. Alec noticed that she was holding the gun with her left hand despite her being right-handed, but she stood firm and aimed with only one hand.

"Alec, check her pulse," Shu ordered firmly.

It took him a moment to process her words, but he quickly ran over to the woman and rolled her over, checking her wrist for a pulse and then her neck. He put a finger beneath her nose to confirm she was breathing, and then looked for any sign of injury.

"She has a pulse, she's breathing."

"Got a weapon?" Shu asked the man as casually as she'd as if a friend had a snack she could have.

"Nothing!" the man whimpered almost pitifully. "I've got nothing, I _swear!_ I just need to feed my daughter!"

"I see."

Alec couldn't believe that Shu could be buying that story, but she lowered her weapon and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it over.

"What…?"

"It's Christmas and my family's got more than enough," Shu explained, her voice still monotone as ever. "Bring your daughter to the police station near the convention center and ask for Asushunamir tomorrow around noon - or Shu, if Asushunamir is too complicated," she added. "I'll give you more if you're up for it, but I need to see your daughter - I need to see that she's _yours_."

She walked forward, took his hand, closed his fist around the money, took a step back, and then raised her weapon again.

"Now go before I change my mind."

The man suddenly jumped into action, turning and sprinting away down the alley and out the other side. He nearly slipped in his haste on the icy ground, but the moment he was out of sight, Shu lowered her weapon and turned to kneel beside Alec next to the woman.

"Any injuries?"

"Why…?" Alec muttered. "Why…how…?"

"I could tell he wasn't lying," Shu explained. "When someone lies, they don't tremble as he did. He actually thought that I'd shoot. A liar knows that we won't shoot because we're too good for that, the cockiness is more evident. Sometimes truthful people cling to the hope that we won't shoot, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying. And sometimes a liar isn't sure if they're doing good enough. I can't explain it all here, you have to get it from experience. Just trust me when I say that man wasn't lying to me. He was desperate. And if I'm wrong-" She cocked her weapon. "Then I'll take care of him myself."

Alec blinked. "Ugh, isn't that…?"

"What? Illegal? Shooting him dead is. I just meant I'd report this mugging, Alexander. You've no sense of humor."

Alec couldn't tell if he should be laughing when it came to Shu. She hadn't smiled through that entire sentence, but her voice did raise a little to suggest she was _sorta_ being funny. She slipped her weapon back into the back of her belt and started examining the woman.

"Concussion. Her knee was kicked out from behind to get her to fall over, but the man wasn't trying to harm her, just disable her. Grab the baby, we're taking them to the hospital."

"Shouldn't we just call-?"

"It's just a block down, Alexander. Surely you can carry a ten-pound child that far."

She gathered the woman into her arms and then hauled her up as Shu stood.

"Whoa, hey! How about I take the woman and you take the baby?" Alec offered.

"That's sexist, Alexander."

With that, Shu turned and walked away. Shu was, admittedly, taller than he was, and her jacket seemed to be hiding some muscle mass under there since she didn't struggle with the woman at all. Alec reached over and carefully scooped up the crying baby into his arms. He had held Max all those years ago when he was still a baby, but beyond that, he had little to no experience with babies.

He cradled the child as he'd seen others do, making sure he wasn't squeezing too hard but also trying to make sure he had the baby in his grip before hurrying after Shu.

The child was surprisingly quiet in Alec's arms, and he couldn't help but smile as he saw the little baby's sleeping face. Surely he couldn't have been more than a year old - less than that, for sure.

"Eight months," Shu called.

"What?" Alec asked.

"He's around eight months. You can tell by his size, his eye color, his complexion. He's healthy, but he was nearly dropped by the mother during the attack, so be careful with him."

Alec blinked at Shu's knowledge, but he knew that Shu had thrown herself into her studies after Charon had died. She could list every conceivable thing on the internet beyond maybe memes and social media. Though she couldn't empathize herself, though she couldn't love, she knew how loved worked. She could identify when two people were eyeing each other, when someone was cheating on their spouse, and when someone, man or woman, was about to propose. She never said it out loud, but in the quiet moments together when Shu decided to join them on a trip or something, she would always stare at someone, and by the end of the night, that someone would be on one knee.

When they made it to the hospital, Shu seemed to know what she was doing. She handled all the paperwork and called the police station to see if they could put out a missing person's report to try and identify the woman.

Meanwhile, Alec sat in the waiting room with the baby, laughing as he moved his hand around and the baby's eyes followed it without fail. A little hand peeked out from the bundle of blankets the baby was wrapped in, reaching out to try and swat the giant fingers. After a minute, Alec let the baby catch his hand. The baby seemed very content.

"Alec," Shu called.

He looked up and saw a nurse standing beside her.

"He has to take the baby for a check-up, see if he isn't hurt or anything," she explained. "I'm going with the mother. Can I ask you to stay with the baby? Unfortunately, I can't be in two places at once."

"Sure," Alec nodded quickly.

Shu nodded then looked to the nurse. "Bring him to the mother's room when you're done. I'm sure she wants to see her child."

"Of course, ma'am," the nurse said.

Alec followed the nurse down the hall, keeping the child in his arms for a little longer. When he finally had to pass over the baby, he suddenly felt cold despite his jacket and his sweater. No, it wasn't cold, he realized. It was just emptiness. He didn't like not having the baby in his arms.

What an odd feeling.

Then again, maybe it was just the effect that babies had on everyone. The nurse was gentle with the baby, crooning to it as it gave the little one a checkup. Alec smiled. Yeah, it was just the effect that babies had on everyone.

Alec watched as the nurse changed the baby's diaper and then prepared a bottle to feed him. Alec felt a slight pang of jealousy, though he didn't understand why. It wasn't _his_ baby, after all, and Alec was far from qualified to feed a baby. But when the nurse saw Alec's face, he gave the offer:

"You wanna try feeding him?"

Alec felt like he'd been punched in the chest with excitement. He accepted the offer, and the nurse helped teach him how to hold the baby - to support its head and such.

"It's a boy," the nurse explained.

The nurse showed Alec how to feed the baby and how to tell when the child was full. The nurse refilled the milk bottle before they left, heading down the hall towards the mother's room where Shu was.

"He looks all good," the nurse told Alec. "Any fall that occurred was thankfully softened by that blanket around him."

Alec looked at the fuzzy yellow blanket, seeing the gleaming eyes of the baby inside. He seemed to be saying ' _Of course I'm okay, I'm tough_.'

"Yeah, you're a tough little one, aren't you?" Alec said.

The baby made a small coo.

The nurse chuckled. "He seems to like you. He's about eight months old and healthy as ever. Like a little puppy."

Alec rolled his eyes. Shu had been right. Of course.

"I'm looking for Asushunamir!"

Alec looked up at the voice, his heart almost stopping. At the desk just a few feet ahead of them down the hall, a familiar glitter-bombed man frantically addressed the woman at the computer.

* * *

"Have you guys heard from my sister?" Magnus asked. "She's not picking up her cell."

" _Actually, yeah,_ " Lucian - aka Luke, husband of Clary's mother Jocelyn - said over the phone. " _I got a text from the station saying they were posting a thing for a Jane Doe that Shu found. Woman with a baby, mugged. Shu managed to get there in time, but the thief got away._ "

"What? Are they okay?"

" _Don't know. Cat just left the party for the call about a woman who had a baby with her. They're short-staffed for Christmas, but you know Cat can never resist the urge to help someone in need._ "

Magnus had rushed over there the moment he heard that it was the hospital Caterina now worked at. He vaguely remembered throwing out a "Thanks Luke" before hanging up without the response.

When he arrived, he quickly made his way to the desk.

"I'm looking for Asushunamir!"

"Are you here to see a patient?"

"No, my sister. She helped a woman and her baby?"

"Oh, that police officer? She's in room 138, down that hall, on the left."

"Thanks!"

"Magnus!"

Magnus nearly had a heart attack on the spot when he heard that voice. It was a voice that he hadn't heard in years, a voice that had never left him.

Alexander Lightwood came rushing over, well as fast as he could come when he was trying to hold a delicate package in his arms. Why the heck did Alec have a baby? Magnus's mind instantly jumped to the conclusion that Alec had a wife and this was his child. Why did horror flood through Magnus at that thought?

"Al-" He cleared his throat. "Alexander! What are you…doing here? Shouldn't you be with your family? I-I mean I guess…is that one yours?"

Magnus was so good with his words.

Alec looked confused, and Magnus had to a clench a fist in his pocket to resist the urge to kiss him right then and there, damn the consequences.

"Oh! No, this baby belongs to the mom who Shu found."

A wave of relief washed over Magnus, though he knew that he shouldn't be so affected by this. "Oh, cool."

"We're just heading over to Shu's room, actually. Come on, you can come too."

Magnus just nodded. "Um-hm."

Alec smiled and tried to make conversation with Magnus as they walked down the hall together, following a nurse guy that Magnus couldn't care less about (no offense to him). Magnus tried to focus on the conversation and stay professional, but he was panicking as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Alec was so…okay.

Magnus shouldn't have wondered why Alec was so _fine_ after all these years and Magnus wasn't. It was Magnus that was messed up, still unable to get over his high school crush. He had thrown himself into his work, but Helen and Aline had never let it go with Magnus. They always reminded him of Alec, and though Magnus knew they only wanted the best for him, it had started to become painful to think about Alec. The two of them had eventually stopped pressing Magnus to go back to Alec and beg for another chance, but they often still squeezed him into conversations and kept Magnus's opinion of Alec high.

Now, Magnus saw that Alec wasn't the least bit concerned with their breakup. It had been years ago, after all.

"Anyway, I've seen all the work you've done. You're a famous designer now," Alec was saying.

"Yeah, thanks."

Alec frowned, and Magnus had a feeling that he hadn't responded correctly. "So…what are you doing for Christmas?"

Magnus sighed. "I just wanted a quiet Christmas this year, so I was planning on joining Shu. What about you?"

"Well, I _was_ at the holiday party when Shu showed up, and…I guess I just didn't want her to be alone. Not today."

Magnus's head fell. "Yeah, she…she's moving forward in her own way."

They reached the room, heading inside to see Shu standing beside the woman's bed. Shu looked deadpan as ever, studying the woman like she was a book. She had taken her heavy coat off, but not her scarf. She wore an army green jacket similar to the one from high school. When she had to replace that one because it was tearing and worn down, she had been so upset until Charon had custom made her one - six pockets for all the things she carried. She had been upset since women's coats always seemed to have fake pockets, and when she had ordered a new one, turns out she got fooled by those fake pockets. But Charon had asked Magnus for some advice on customizing the jacket - and instead of letting Magnus do all the work, Charon had done it himself the best he could. Shu had to commission Magnus to fix it up afterwards, but she had loved it all the same. She loved the effort that Charon had gone to in order to make her happy.

Now, she wore it without fail. Magnus fixed it up every time some imperfection occurred, and he knew that she would never want to change jackets again.

"How is she?" Alec asked.

"Concussion, as I suspected," Shu said. "Beyond that, nothing more than a couple cuts and bruises that'll heal within a couple days." She finally looked up to them. "Magnus, what are you doing here?"

Though her words sounded like she was surprised to see him, her tone and face suggested otherwise. "I came when I heard you ended up in a hospital. Even if it wasn't you, I was still worried. Anyway, I was calling because I'd come to your place but you weren't there."

"Sorry. I planned to be back by 8. I suppose stopping a mugging took a few minutes too long."

Magnus didn't appreciate Shu's new sense of dark humor, but he said nothing. He knew where it had come from, and he learned to just let it roll over his head.

"Oh, by the way, I have something for you. Alec gave it to me to pass on to you, but now that you're here-"

"Let's not be too hasty," Alec jumped in frantically.

"I had something to pass on to Alexander as well, but like you said…now that I'm here…" Magnus began.

Shu shook her head. "I won't be an eternal medium between you two. I'll be in the hall if you have an emergency. Or there's a button right there to call the nurses."

She glided past them calmly, leaving no room for question, closing the door behind her.

Alec and Magnus stared at each other, before Alec cleared his throat.

"I, uh…sorry, I just. I wanted you to open the presents once I had…nevermind, it was stupid."

"Come on, Alexander. You can't leave me hanging. How about this? I'll give you mine first."

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small box. Bigger than a ring box (why was that the first place Alec's mind went?). Magnus jiggled it around to reveal there were multiple objects inside.

"See? Your turn. You can open it now or we can open ours together."

Alec hesitated, the baby in his arms staring up at him expectantly. Finally, Alec sighed and grabbed the shopping bag Shu had left in the room. Inside were the multiple tiny boxes with the charms.

"Here. We can open them together."

They pulled all of the chairs in the room together and Alec carefully set the baby boy down on one of them, nice and close so that Alec could be there at a moment's notice. Magnus questioned whether that really _was_ Alec's son.

"Mine's pretty…dumb…" Alec muttered. "I hadn't planned to…I mean…it was an impulsive thing, to give it to Shu…it's lame…"

Magnus chuckled nervously. "Yeah, well so's mine, so here we go."

"I'm sorry," Alec blurted.

Magnus looked up from the shopping bag in surprise. "What?"

"For leaving you. For… _everything_. I just…" Alec leaned forward and held his hands to his eyes to cover them as he cried. "It all just became too much…with Max and with…with Dad and…"

"Whoa, hey, Alexander-"

"I'm sorry!" he spat again. "I can't ask you to forgive me, I can't ask you to understand what…it's no excuse…but when I…when…I couldn't do it…"

"Alexander, slow down."

Magnus leaned forward in his seat to pull Alec into a hug as Alec cried into his shoulder. The baby started to cry along with Alec, as though upset at Alec being upset.

" _Magnus, aren't you gonna go after him?!" Shu demanded._

 _"It's his choice, Shu. After all that he's been through, taking a break might be the best idea."_

 _"Taking a break? This isn't_ taking a break! _He needs you now more than ever and you're just_ abandoning _him!"_

 _"I'm respecting his wishes!"_

 _"You're running away!"_

 _"Well what_ else _am I supposed to do?!"_

 _How do you comfort someone who just lost their nine-year-old brother? How do you even start? What do you say? Magnus didn't know Max Lightwood, and so he had no right to say anything about him. Was he supposed to say 'I'm sorry?' 'Max would've wanted you to be happy?' 'I know you loved him?' How could Magnus say anything like that without really know who Max was?_

That wasn't what Magnus should've said, he finally realized. It wasn't Max that he should be focusing on, it was Alec.

"I can't imagine what you felt back then. But no matter what I knew or what I didn't, I should've been there for you." Magnus gripped Alec tighter in his arms. "You were asking me if I'd stay with you, no matter how bad it got. You were testing me, whether you realized it or not. And I failed. You wanted to know if I was willing to fight for you, fight to be _with_ you, even if you were against me. In respecting your wishes, I…I effectively abandoned you. That one's on me."

"I'm the one who shouldn't have pushed you away," Alec muttered from Magnus's shoulder. "I was just…drowning and I couldn't…I couldn't figure out how to breathe again…"

Alec pulled back, noticing the wailing baby and moving to pick him up instinctively.

"I guess I never told you this," Alec sniffled, gently rocking the baby. "My dad came back, he hurried over when he heard that Max…a-and I blew up at him, blamed him for it all, and I…I told him about you. He wasn't too pleased. Said you had a reputation."

Magnus rubbed the back of his head. "Well…I mean I wasn't _inexperienced_ when I met you…"

Alec chuckled. "I know. And I didn't care much, either. You were you, I knew who you were no matter your past. But with everything happening…I don't know, I guess I let my dad's words get to me. It's still no excuse, I know, but-"

"Alexander, you were grieving."

"That's no-!"

"Is that what you've been telling yourself all these years?"

Alec didn't say anything.

"Alexander…perhaps we've both been a bit foolish."

Alec had managed to calm down the baby, holding him on his shoulder and rubbing his back gently.

"You're a natural at that, you know?"

Alec chuckled. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just following the instructions I was told by the nurse."

"May I?"

Alec looked reluctant, but he handed Max over into Magnus's arms. Unexpectedly, Magnus seemed to know what he was doing when he held the baby.

"You're a cutie, aren't you?" Magnus crooned.

Alec chuckled. "You're a natural yourself."

"I've babysat, believe it or not."

Alec smiled and looked down, reaching for the box that Magnus had given him. He opened it to reveal a bunch of stacked charms - particularly omamori charms. They were all different colors, he could see that, but the first one had been modified. On the front was the word ' _Will_ ' stitched onto it in a fancy cursive with black thread.

"Um, Magnus, I think you gave this one to the wrong person."

Magnus snatched up the box. "I can't have."

Alec snickered. "Well, in your defense, I resorted to giving out charms to everyone in order to keep up with the number of friends that we have."

"I give our friends custom clothing during holidays," Magnus said defensively.

Alec cleared his throat. "I can't really do that, so…good for you."

"The omamori charms are all for you, one for every year. I just…never really got the courage to give them to you."

"Having second thoughts now?"

Magnus didn't answer. "It's probably not appropriate right now."

"Why not? What changed?"

"Just…second thoughts, like you said."

Alec looked crestfallen.

"I wanna do this right," Magnus said quickly. "I kinda…wanna get back together with you. Especially now that we're adults with adult lives and we actually have a clue about where we're going in life."

Alec didn't know how he was supposed to feel. After years of sulking over his mistakes as well as mourning his losses, Magnus felt like a life raft in a storm - almost too good for him to believe in, something he shouldn't be putting all of his hopes into, but he does it anyway because it's better than the alternative. He couldn't process his feelings, but he knew that he had to say something fast.

"Unless you don't-"

"I want to!" Alec snapped, and the baby started to cry from the sudden shock. "Oh! I'm sorry! So sorry, little one…"

Magnus rocked the baby gently while whispering a light lullaby.

"Here, show him you're sorry."

Magnus handed the baby back to Alec, who worked to try and calm the baby as best he could. Eventually, he somehow managed to calm him down, and Alec sighed in relief.

Magnus laughed. "You'll get the hang of it one day."

Magnus grabbed the bag of presents that Alec had given to him while Alec was distracted by the baby. He pulled out multiple small boxes and he realized that they were charms for the charm bracelet that Alec had gotten for him a little before he'd left. That had been so long ago.

"Hey, you get to open my present but I don't get to open yours?" Alec complained.

"Hush now, darling and I might just let you see yours."

Alec made a face but stayed silent. He had his doubts that Magnus was telling the truth, lying just to get Alec to be quiet, but what could he do? Magnus was unstoppable when he wanted to be, and knowing that made Alec want to smile for some reason. Same old Magnus, like nothing had changed.

Magnus opened all of the charms, but found that they had little engravings on the back. "What are these? Hey, are these in our code?"

Alec noticed how Magnus referred to it as _their_ code rather than just his even when he had invented it. It was simple, there were probably a ton of other people in the world who had used it, but in the end, it was theirs.

"I don't have time for this," Magnus sighed. "What do they say?"

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Glad to know you appreciate the time and effort that I put into these things. Here I am, trying to be sentimental, and-"

"Yeah, yeah, just _tell_ me!"

Alec sighed. "Well, they're all along the lines of ' _Forgive me_ ,' ' _I'm sorry_ ,' ' _Aku Cinta Kamu_ ,' ' _Warlock dork_ ,' ' _Glitter-bomb fiend_.' After a while, I started to get bored with apologies that never reached you."

"Aku cinta kamu. You…you remembered."

" _Aku cinta kamu!" Magnus spat._

 _Alec knew that it probably sounded like Magnus's first language, and he wanted_ so _badly to ask what it meant. He had always found it interesting that Magnus's first language wasn't English and yet he spoke it so well. Alec had always loved the hint of an accent that gave a certain touch to his vowels._

 _But Alec was leaving, and Magnus sounded angry. He probably just cursed him out in Dutch or something_.

"A little help from Google Translate and then calling up Shu because Google Translate wasn't helpful and I learned what it meant."

Magnus chuckled. "I never told you I was part Indonesian, did I? Wow, I would've thought that had come up in conversation."

"Actually Shu mentioned your mom was half-Dutch, half-Indonesian, but it wasn't like I remembered it until that particular phone call when she spat it through the phone before hanging up on me."

Magnus smiled sadly. "Sounds like my sister. She really liked you, you know? Short of marrying you herself, she wanted you to be a part of this family."

Alec ran his hand through the baby boy's dark black hair. "I…she didn't deserve it. What I did to her, what happened to…"

Magnus nodded. "What's done is done. I can't really say more than that. I shouldn't be happy about what's happened to her, but at the same time, it shaped her into who she is today, for better or worse. She's at the top of her class in the police force, she's saved more lives than I can count. If you count the serial killers that she's taken down, there are an infinite amount of people she saved if those bad guys had been allowed to continue. I've heard stories from her colleagues that she can manage to empathize with victims rescued, she can make even the most broken and traumatized person trust her, and she can get any person, no matter how dedicated to their cause, to crack under her intimidation methods. And she's prevented countless false convictions, too. There are so many cases where the innocent are blamed for something, and the only one who ever believes them is her. What happened to her was a nightmare for all of us, but am I a bad person for saying that if I could go back in time and change things, I wouldn't?"

Alec shook his head. "No. In this situation, there really isn't a right or a wrong way of thinking."

Magnus looked down at the charms in his hand before slipping off a sparkly cuff from his wrist (very Magnus, Alec thought) and revealing that Magnus was wearing Alec's charm bracelet underneath it. Then, possibly more surprising, Magnus pulled out a pair of those pliers used for jewelry - just _producing_ them from his back pocket.

"Do you _always_ carry a pair of those things around?" Alec asked.

Magnus chuckled. " _That's_ the most surprising thing you can think of?"

Alec blushed. "Well, I'm also surprised you still have my charm bracelet."

Magnus smiled lightly as he began to attach the charms. "Call it sentimentality, or maybe just the slim hope that I'd be able to fill this out one day. Besides, I wear a ton of jewelry anyway, so I seem the most qualified to receive this kind of gift."

Alec smiled. "Well, that _was_ the point when I first got them."

Magnus finished attaching the charms.

"Why'd you keep them?" Alec wondered aloud. "After what I did…"

"Because I loved you," Magnus said simply. "And no matter how angry I was, I never wanted to stop."

Alec was touched by the statement and barely managed to stutter out his next sentence. "S-So do you…you think maybe that we can…can I take it back?"

Magnus raised an eyebrow. "What? The bracelet. You just gave-"

"You know what I meant," Alec sighed. "Can I…can I take back everything. What I said, what I did?"

"You can't take it back." Alec's heart sunk. " _But_ ," Magnus continued when he saw Alec's reaction. "You _can_ make up for it."

Alec smiled. "Really?"

"You can start by treating me to dinner tomorrow."

Alec scoffed. "Now you just sound vain."

"It's been years since our last date. I think we should start simple with dinner."

The door clicked open and Shu walked back in with the nurse at her side.

"Visiting hours are ending," Shu explained. "It's time to go."

Alec and Magnus stood as Alec handed the baby over to the nurse. They grabbed their coats and followed Shu out.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Alec confirmed.

Magnus gave a smile that made Alec's heart jump. It had been so long since he'd seen Magnus smile. Throughout the years when they were apart, the only thing Alec had been able to remember was Magnus's angered and disappointed face.

"Is six PM okay with you?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah, I'll be free by then. You wanna come to Lightwood Industries or should I come pick you up somewhere?"

"Lightwood Industries sounds fine to me. It's a date."

They headed out the automatic doors and down the street, but Alec needed to go right while Shu was leading Magnus left. Both boys seemed reluctant to leave each other.

"See you," Magnus said.

"Bye."

Shu was already walking down the sidewalk to where Magnus had parked his car.

Alec, remembering back to their first date back at the coffee shop after he had also screwed up things with Magnus, suddenly got an idea that he had to put into motion before he could stop himself.

"Guess we should do something more dramatic than just walk away. Just doesn't feel right."

Magnus chuckled lightly, almost sadly. "We don't have to be dramatic, Alexander."

"But I want to be!" he spat a little too loudly.

Magnus blinked. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I thought drama was what you do best," Alec said nervously, trying to laugh it off.

Magnus's worried face relaxed. "For your information, I don't _need_ to be dramatic. Not when it ever came to you. I just…I could be myself around you. I never needed drama with us, I just needed _you_."

Alec stared for a moment, to the point where Magnus started looking around nervously.

"Alec?"

Alec grabbed Magnus by his jacket and pulled him into a kiss, hard and fast and messy but with everything he had. It lasted a total of four seconds, but it was the best thing that had happened within the past five years. Alec pulled back nearly as quickly as he'd initiated the kiss and then quickly hurried away to avoid the embarrassment that was quickly overtaking him.

"Tomorrow at six. My office!"

He ran away before he could get Magnus's reaction, but he found himself laughing at the absurdity of the situation - and laughing was hard when you were sprinting away. Alec had a habit of messing things up, but maybe things could still get better. Maybe he still had a chance to make things right.

* * *

"I see you've secured a date," Shu said blankly.

"Yeah," Magnus said.

It'd taken at least a minute before Shu had called out to Magnus and snapped him out of his stupor. It had taken another minute before Magnus realized what had happened and had run after Shu to catch up to her.

She opened the driver side door, forcing Magnus into the passenger seat (even though it was Magnus's car). He didn't protest, handing her the keys, since Magnus suddenly felt extremely guilty. He had a date with the guy that he liked more than anything, a relationship that he had high hopes for, while Shu had long since lost that chance. Everyone got nervous talking about their love lives when Shu was present, even though she never showed any reaction to what she heard. She was almost robotic, and whenever a new person saw how their friend circle got nervous about the topic of romance, Shu explained her story without flinching. People always felt bad for her, but Shu didn't have any emotion left in her. She didn't have anymore tears to shed, she didn't have anything left for the guilt and regret to eat away at. She was still Shu, but at the same time, Shu was gone.

Shu started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, driving off.

"I'm happy for you, Magnus," she said, making a left turn to join the nightly commute.

Traffic was light thanks to the holiday and the late hour. Magnus turned on the heater of the car and cranked up the fans.

"Don't mess this up," she warned.

"Come on, you know I won't."

"I don't know that."

Magnus smiled. It almost felt like they were back to normal. He could almost imagine the little emphasis in Shu's words being filled with actual emotion, joking around and insulting her brother at every turn. Magnus looked out the window and watched the city pass by, remembering when he'd first met Shu. She had been introduced as his older sister from one of his father's many affairs. Magnus had thought, at first, that their father was her actual, real, married-to-her-mother father, and Magnus was angry at her, jealous that she had a father when Magnus and his mother had been left alone. Not alone, actually, but with a step father that had nearly drowned him when his mother had committed suicide. Magnus had hated Shu, until she had explained the truth - she was just like him. Her mother was depressed to the point of going insane, and Shu had nearly been beaten to death by her mother when she hadn't even reached double digits. Luckily the police eventually found out about it and her mother was arrested, Shu adopted by Kandai and finally given the chance to live a normal life with a kind and loving parent.

" _How about we start over?" Shu had said to Magnus once she had explained her story. She held out her hand. "I'm Asushunamir, but you can call me Shu. I'm your sister, and I want you to come live with me and Papa. Papa says that you can choose a new name, if you want. You can be whoever you want, leave behind the life that hurt you so much. I chose the name Asushunamir out of a book I read - someone who tricked the queen of the Underworld and rescued a goddess who had gotten trapped down there. Who do you wanna be?"_

 _Magnus had just stared at her in shock. It had almost sounded too good to be true. A kind father, a loving sister - a life Magnus never thought possible. He almost felt he didn't deserve it. Something had to have been wrong with him, that's why his parents hated him so much. His father wasn't his father, his mother never wanted to be his mother._

 _He looked at the textbook he'd been reading before Shu had come in to talk to him, one that the adults had given him - a physics textbook about a ball being dropped but being spun at the same time, curving off in its trajectory rather than falling straight down._ The Magnus effect.

 _Magnus took Shu's hand. "I'm…Magnus," he decided. "Magnus Bane._ "

"Well, I _am_ unpredictable, so if you're so confident in my ability to mess things up, then I suppose that's actually in my favor. I'll exceed your expectations."

Shu gave a light chuckle, the sound unfamiliar to Magnus and even to her. It was deep and breathy, as though she got tired just from the small hint of laughter. "Leave it to you to put a light spin on an insult to your clumsiness."

"I am not _clumsy!_ I'm the epitome of grace."

Shu's smile looked almost painfully sad. "Thanks, Magnus."

He didn't ask what she was thanking him for. It was clear enough without words. It was what Magnus had silently told Shu ever since that day.

" _Go away! I hate you! You have a father who loves you! You have a mother who never hated your very birth! You don't know what it's like to find your mother in a barn having hung herself because of you! You don't know what it's like to have your step-father try and drown you, blaming you for your mom's death! So just go away!"_

 _"No, I'm not leaving unless you come with me. I don't know what it's like, that's true. But I_ do _know what it's like to wonder why you exist even though the world hates you._ "

She had told her tale, she had somehow found a way into his broken heart. When he had trusted no one, when he had given up on the possibility of ever being loved, Shu hadn't budged at his hatred of her. She had stood firm, she had come back every day to speak to him and convince him that he should be a part of her family.

"Thanks, Magnus," she said, and Magnus knew what she meant. He'd been telling it to her ever since that day.

 _Magnus took Shu's hand. "I'm…Magnus. Magnus Bane."_

 _Shu pulled Magnus to his feet and kept their hands interlocked. "Let's go home, Magnus._ "

Thank you for not giving up on me.

* * *

"You look _fine_ , big brother," Izzy insisted.

It wasn't that Alec didn't believe her word - Izzy was a girl and he assumed that girls knew fashion, especially Isabelle Lightwood - but it didn't stop him from pacing nervously. He'd started getting ready at 5 and it was now 5:45. Still _15 damn minutes to go!_

"You're going to mess up your hair if you keep running your hands through it like that," Izzy complained, grabbing a comb and moving in.

"Sorry, I just…"

"You don't need to apologize, Alec. This is your first date with Magnus since breaking up. You have a right to be nervous."

He laughed humorlessly. "How am I supposed to say that I'm sorry for…everything?"

"I think he's already forgiven you; I don't think he was ever mad in the first place. Well, maybe he _was_ a little upset at first, but he knew what you were going through - what we were _all_ going through."

 _Ten more minutes_.

Alec tapped his foot, needing the movement, while Izzy messed with his hair. "I don't know why I'm so worried, but…I don't know."

Izzy chuckled. "Alec, it's _okay_. Being worried means that you care about Magnus's opinion of you. It means that you really like him and things are gonna be _fine_."

"Being nervous means everything's gonna be okay?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. But with you and Magnus that seems to be the case."

"What does that even _mean?_ "

She frowned. "In all honesty, I'm not sure. You two are complicated, but I believe in you."

Alec slumped. "Thanks, sis. You've been a big help."

 _Seven minutes_.

UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH. This was taking too long!

"I'm going down now."

He rushed out of his room, leaving Izzy smiling behind him as she shook her head in exasperation. "What am I gonna do with you?"

He hurried to the elevator and tried to calm himself on the ride down. Of course, since the elevator was a fast elevator that could travel twenty floors in five seconds, it wasn't a long trip. When the elevator doors opened, however, he found that he was staring at Magnus.

"Oh, what luck!"

Alec jumped and nearly lost his balance. He was just glad he didn't yelp in surprise, but when he found Magnus grabbing his arm and pulling him back into an embrace to steady him, Alec let out an exclamatory noise that hopefully wasn't embarrassing.

"Come on now, Alexander. I'm not _that_ ugly, am I?"

Alec felt Magnus's voice rumbling in his chest, only drowned out by the pounding of his heart in his ears. "I…uh…you're…hey."

Magnus laughed and pulled back, taking Alec's hand and leading him out of the way of the elevators. "Underwood gave me a key card and told me to go right up," he explained. "He seems nice."

"Oh, uh…right. Him. Underwood. I apparently helped him come out by inspiring him or something; I'm not really sure that I'm everything he says I am, but I made a point to announce that we don't tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation - as well as race and sex and all the other stuff. He's a good guy."

Magnus frowned. "You never dated, right?"

"What?"

"What?" Magnus repeated, mimicking Alec's confused tone so well that Alec was caught off guard.

Alec blinked. "What are you-?"

"Anyway, we should go," Magnus said casually and started walking off.

"What? Hey!" Alec hurried to match his pace. "Did I hear a hint of jealousy?"

"Obviously not," Magnus said unconvincingly. "I just wanted to know what you've been doing in these years without me."

Alec looked at the floor as they walked to the exit. "No one would ever compete with you. You should know that. I'd never be able to date anyone after the way I screwed up."

"How long have you been regretting this, tormenting yourself, Alexander?"

He pushed open the door and held it for Magnus. "To be honest? Ever since I first did it. Before I had even walked away, I regretted it. I don't know what kept me going, but once I started, I couldn't stop. I just needed to get away, and I didn't realize how much I was hurting until I stopped and thought about it."

"You didn't let yourself be upset," Magnus said as they walked down the sidewalk. "I kept repeating the things that I should've said to you, how I could've better handled the situation. Especially when…especially when Shu lost Charon, I realized what went wrong. You didn't cry, Alexander. You didn't mourn your brother, you simply stayed in your angry phase. Those stages of grief or whatever? I saw you go through denial and guilt, then anger and bargaining - thinking that somehow if you threw your life away something would change, and that empty hole left in your heart would go away. But you left me before I could help you through the moment you realized you weren't angry and there was nothing you could do. I never saw you do what you should have - cried your eyes out until you ran out of tears. After you did that, you would start working past it."

"Izzy and I got into a fight about it, and that's when we both broke down. It wasn't just about Max anymore, at least not for me. It was about messing up with you. I lost Max, but in the process, I also lost you."

"When I saw what was happening to Shu in her grief, I realized what I should've done with you. I should've reached out to you, made you face the pain that you were running from so that you could start to get better. I guess what I'm trying to say is…I'm sorry for doing it all wrong."

"And I'm sorry for being the bad luck charm that I am."

He laughed. "It's okay, Alexander. I like you the way you are. Don't ever change. Anyway, where are we going?"

Alec turned a corner. The city was always bustling, and now that business hours were ending, people were out on the streets and all of the Christmas lights were going on as the sun set. The city was beautiful during Christmas.

"Let's just say I didn't want anything too fancy, so I chose a small place at random."

He walked into a small sandwich shop/café that was bustling with energy. The two shops had been right next to each other and had decided to join forces, so to speak, so they tore down the wall between them and made one big business.

"Cozy," Magnus exclaimed.

"I know it's not much, but-"

"Alexander, it's perfect. I didn't _want_ anything fancy. I've been forced into fancy stuff for my job ever since I started working with Aline and Helen and then made my own brand."

The two of them got into the line. "I saw you do that short on TV. A kid's clothing line for Shadowhunters? Wish I could've been a kid when you were in the fashion industry."

"Hey, we make adult stuff too. And teen stuff."

"Halloween was filled with Shadowhunters and warlocks and faeries and vampires that year. Well, vampires were already a trend and weren't necessarily the Shadowhunter variety, and I don't mean the faeries as in _fairies_ , but…you know what I mean."

The two of them ordered their food and chose a random table that was unoccupied.

"And your company is thriving still," Magnus said.

Alec shrugged and took a bite of his chocolate bagel. "Not really. We're just about the same as ever, just with a new person in charge."

"But I saw you in a magazine article and a couple news outlets - you officially announced that you're gay and have apparently been an inspiration to more than just your employees. You may not realize it, but hearing that important people are different races or different sexual orientations or basically not the majority, it warms people's hearts. You're proving that being gay doesn't make you any less capable or any less of a person. It doesn't just help all the people who sympathize with you, it helps straight people with LGBTQ friends, it helps parents or siblings who need to prove they love family members no matter who or what they are. I'd say you've done a _lot_ of good, Alexander. You're bringing the world together, one obliviously humble statement at a time."

Alec blushed. "I…thanks. And you're bringing the world together one sequent at a time."

Magnus laughed. "We'll all be united under a glittery flag one day. One day."

The date went well after that. There were more apologies than Alec could count because there were things that just didn't see like they could be apologized for. Still, Alec had high hopes that things were getting better.

"Is that Shu?"

Alec turned around towards the door and saw that a familiar figure was walking in, accompanied by an unfamiliar one. It looked to be a man, shoulder-length blonde hair, Caucasian, just a little taller than Shu, maybe as tall as Magnus. The two were talking with serious faces on, and Alec wondered if that was one of her colleagues from the police station.

"Shu!" Magnus called.

She looked up at him quickly with that alert eye that had become a part of her natural routine. She raised a hand to wave, speaking to the boy by her side and probably explaining who the glitter-bombed man with hair rivaling Sonic the Hedgehog calling out to her in a random coffee shop was. He said something back casually to her with a smile and her frown deepened and she scolded him. He didn't seem fazed.

Once they got their order, the blonde guy rushed over to their table with Shu following at a lazy yet brisk pace. "Hi! You're Shu's brother?"

"I am indeed," Magnus said casually. "And who are you?"

"I'm her boyfriend."

Alec and Magnus both straightened in surprise, looking at each other to see if they heard that right before then looking to the blonde.

"Uh…congratulations?" Magnus said uncertainly.

Shu finally caught up to them, setting her bag and her drink on the table before taking the guy by the shoulders in a motion that both Magnus and Alec recognized. They cringed as she kneed him in the groin before then taking a seat next to Magnus in the booth they were at, sipping her tea as the blonde fell to the floor writhing in pain.

"This is Aslan," she said in her blank tone.

"Wasn't that a bit overkill?" Alec asked cautiously.

"I warned him not to say he was my boyfriend when he suggested it."

Alec remembered the conversation the two had when Magnus had called over to Shu. He must've suggested the boyfriend idea and that's when she had frowned and warned him not to or she'd kick him in the groin. It seems that he hadn't taken her threat seriously - biggest mistake of his life.

"Guess it make sense."

"So who is he _really?_ " Magnus asked.

"Confidential," Shu answered before sipping her drink again.

"Ah." He nodded in understanding. "Got it."

"What?" Alec asked.

"Sorry, Alec," Magnus said only half-apologetically. "Not for your ears."

"Aw, come _on_." He crossed his arms. "Here we are, getting along, trying to make up for all of our past mistakes, and now you're _keeping_ something from me?"

Aslan crawled up to sit in the booth beside Alec. "That…ugh…went well."

"Keep your mouth shut, Aslan," Shu warned. "Unless you want me to lock you in a room."

"I'd like to see you try, beautiful."

She kicked him in the shin under the table, but the only indication was Aslan's reaction. Shu barely moved. "We can only share to my family members," Shu explained. "I've taken a big enough risk allowing that. And I can't share any personal information, either. Just the facts so that Magnus knows to stay out of it."

"A police thing?" Alec guessed.

She said nothing.

"She needs to have deniability," Magnus explained. "She won't lie to her superiors, but who ever said anything about lying if we just guess by ourselves and she doesn't confirm? But Shu, Alec _is_ family. Or at least, he's _gonna_ be. Isn't that good enough?"

She looked up to him, for the first time showing some interest. When she spoke, Alec heard more emotion in her voice than he'd heard in years. "He accepted your gift?"

Magnus rubbed the back of his head. "Well…no. I haven't given it to him."

She closed her eyes and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes and sipping her drink. It was a sip of disappointment.

"What?" Alec asked. "What do you mean? What's going on? Why am I the only one in the dark here?"

"Oh come on," Aslan said. "Even _I_ figured it out and I just got here."

"Aslan, switch seats with Alec," Shu ordered. Her tone left no room for argument. " _Now_."

Aslan stood and let Alec out of the booth before Aslan scooted into Alec's former seat and Alec moved his food to his new seat.

"Okay…" Alec began. "Now what?"

Shu got out of the booth. "Magnus."

"What, _now?_ " Magnus asked in protest. " _Here?_ "

"Now. Here," she confirmed.

He sighed and slid out of the booth as Shu took his place. Magnus dug through his jacket pocket, still standing, before stretching out his hand with an item. As it turns out, it was the present that Magnus had snatched back the day before.

"Go on. How about you actually read _all_ of the omamori charms this time?"

Alec took the box of charms hesitantly. "What's this all about?"

Magnus plopped down in Shu's former seat with his arms crossed. "Shu's making me do this now rather than later, so…don't say I didn't warn you."

"You were asking for it, brother."

"I wasn't-!" he began, but cut himself off. "Nevermind, it'll make sense in a second. Alec, just go!"

Alec felt all of their eyes on him and nervously opened the box again. He saw the first charm with the stitched on ' _Will_ ' once more, before he picked it up and moved on to the next one. He expected that the charms would each have a name on them, similar to how he had to resort to getting everyone different charms for their charm bracelets since they had nearly too many friends to count. He had thought that the ' _Will_ ' charm belonged to Will, as in, their friend Will. Rather than another name on the next charm, however, he found an entirely different word that he hadn't been expecting.

' _You_.'

Alec set the ' _Will_ ' charm down and moved to grab the ' _You_ ' charm, starting to ponder what the next one said. He started to understand what Magnus had done, putting a word on each charm. He hoped to all hopes that the next one just said ' _Forgive_.' He wasn't sure why he was so nervous about it, he wasn't sure why he wanted the next one to say ' _Forgive_ ' rather than…

The next one said ' _Forgive_.'

A part of Alec relaxed, a part of him was disappointed.

He set the ' _You_ ' charm down and relaxed as he predicted the next one easily, grabbing the ' _Forgive_ ' charm and picking it up. ' _Me_.'

Oddly enough, there wasn't a question mark, but he supposed that would be on the final charm. He set down the ' _Forgive_ ' charm and removed the ' _Me_ ' charm, but got a little more than a question mark. He set the ' _Me_ charm aside to grab the final one and read it properly.

' _And will you also marry me? P.S. ha you thought this would just be a question mark. I know you so well, Alexander. Love, Magnus_.'

"You son of a bitch," Alec blurted.

"Well, that was an unexpected response," Aslan muttered.

"Was I right?" Magnus asked eagerly.

"I hate you so much," Alec said instead, throwing the box at him.

"Hey!" Magnus protested, blocking the projectile with his arms and swatting it away in a very unmanly fashion. "I just wanted to know!"

"Yes," Alec huffed with a scowl.

"Yes, I predicted correctly, or yes-?"

"Yes," Alec repeated. "Yes, yes, and yes. I hate you so much right now, but yes!"

Magnus smiled, looking a little less fazed than Alec would have preferred. "Well, in that case, I _also_ say yes."

Alec blinked. "Huh?"

Magnus rolled up the sleeve of his jacket just enough to reveal the charm bracelet still on his wrist. "You know, I never pegged you for a liar, Alexander."

He tensed up and blushed. "I…"

"Lucky for you that I didn't trust your word about what these charms said and translated them myself." He pointed to each of the five new charms as he spoke their translations. "' _Will_ ' ' _You_ ' ' _Marry_ ' ' _Me?_ ' ' _Aku Cinta Kamu._ ' I suppose you didn't lie about that last one, of course, but using the one truthful one to change the subject so that I wouldn't be suspicious and so you could avoid lying more than you had to." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "I didn't expect it from you, Alexander."

"You…shut up…you're not my _mother_." Alec crossed his arms and looked away, trying to hide his blush. "A-Anyway it doesn't matter anymore since we both said yes."

"Hear that, Shu?" Magnus asked her.

She unzipped her winter coat and reached into her jacket pocket before grabbing something in her fist and then smacking it down on the table. "I took the liberty of doing what neither of you thought to do because you were being sentimental, and while I applaud your romantic proposals, you each owe me $1000 of your love."

She moved her hand to reveal two rings.

"1000?" Magnus protested. "That was _not_ necessary, Shu."

She shrugged and returned to her tea. "We're rich, so help me if I splurged."

She said this so monotone that it was almost funny. Shu _never_ used the 'We're rich' excuse.

Magnus snatched the rings. "Well, since I proposed first allow me to do the honors-"

"Actually, _I_ did, since I was actually willing to give you your present _on Christmas_ ," Alec protested.

"I proposed with you in front of me rather than proposing like a coward with a code," Magnus argued.

"I was being _sentimental!_ I didn't _expect_ to give you your present like that! I wasn't even expecting to _see_ you this year!"

"Stand up you two," Shu said.

She grabbed Magnus's hand and pulled the rings free.

"Repeat after me. 'I'm sorry for being an idiot,'" she said loudly, loud enough to draw a couple people's attention and lower the volume of the shop by at least three notches.

"Shu, you're making a scene…" Magnus muttered.

"Do it," she said unapologetically.

Magnus sighed and looked at Alec. He shrugged and went along with it.

"I'm sorry for being an idiot, Magnus."

Magnus seemed to forget being angry as he heard that and looked down at Alec's shoes. "I'm sorry for being an idiot, Alexander."

"Together now," Shu said. "'Will you marry me?'"

There were a couple gasps and whispers around the shop, and Alec suddenly felt very exposed. He looked at Magnus, who finally realized what Shu was doing and gave Alec an encouraging look.

' _Why not? If you're okay with it…_ '

Alec smiled back at him. ' _Why not?_ '

"Will you marry me?" they said together.

"Yes," Alec sighed happily.

"Of _course_ I will, Alexander," Magnus said a little more smoothly before sweeping Alec into a kiss that took his breath away.

The entire place burst out into applause and cheers. Someone even whistled.

"See? That wasn't so hard," Shu said with her arms crossed.

"My first day with you people and _this_ happens," Aslan commented.

Shu stared between her brother and his new fiancé. "Okay, you guys can breathe now."

They didn't seem to hear her over the noise. Or they were just too lost in their kiss to want to stop. Shu suspected both.

"Fine, suffocate for all I care, but your friends and families will miss you dearly. Maybe not _me_."

Magnus finally broke away with a smirk. "Oh, you'd miss us, dear sister."

For the first time in over three years, Shu smiled a genuine smile. "Perhaps I would."

* * *

"Aslan is in witness protection," Shu explained in the next day Magnus and Shu's penthouse. "That's all I can tell you."

They'd invited Alec over to spend the night, and both Alec and Magnus seemed extra pleased the next morning. Apparently, Aslan was staying with Shu and Magnus, and now Alec knew why it was so important for him to stay by Shu's side. Witness protection meant that not only was he important, but people were after him. With Shu's skill, Alec had no doubt that this was the safest place for him.

"Ah, that makes sense," Alec said. "You don't seem her type. Sorry."

"I use a revolver gun and can shoot from further than any other shooter," Aslan said. "I think that I'm more than a match."

"He thinks he's cool because he only has eight bullets to work with before reloading," Shu explained. "Says he never misses a shot, never lets one bullet go to waste. Doesn't let anyone touch his weapon."

Her phone started to ring and she grabbed it from her pocket, not moving to excuse herself. She didn't really care who listened to her half of a conversation, and she could tune out any amount of noise if she wanted to.

"Yes…yes…just get on with it…" Shu froze before glaring at the floor as she spoke. "What happened?" There was a pause. "How?" Another long pause. "What of the child?"

Alec and Magnus exchanged worried glances.

"I'll be right there. Put him in my custody. I'll deal with the paperwork, but do _not_ let him get taken anywhere else." She clicked the button on her phone to hang up and stuck the phone in her pocket. "We're going to the hospital, Aslan. Get dressed."

"What's happening?" Alec demanded.

"That woman that we found being mugged? She's dead."

Alec and Magnus both froze, while Aslan rushed to his room like a soldier after Shu's order.

"What happened?" Magnus asked.

Shu wrapped her scarf around her neck. "Suicide."

"Her child?" Alec jumped in frantically.

"Alive, but just barely. She tried to take him with her, but the nurses found her. She abandoned the baby and simply killed herself."

Magnus clenched a fist. "How could she…?"

"You know as well as I do, Magnus, what happens to a mother left behind by a man who simply raped her and left."

Magnus looked up in shock. It was a solid twenty seconds before he spoke. "And what happens to the child left behind too…"

Shu nodded.

Aslan came running out of his new room, changed into a new outfit and tugging his jacket on. "Let's go."

"Can we come?" Magnus asked.

Shu nodded. "Get dressed."

They each rushed off, Magnus to his room, Alec to the one he'd been given. By the time they got back, Shu was catching up Aslan on the situation. Shu drove with Aslan shotgun and Magnus and Alec in the back. Alec didn't realize it until halfway through the drive, but he was gripping Magnus's hand tightly. And Magnus was gripping his.

Alec had little knowledge about Magnus's past. He'd never really thought about it, how anything could possibly faze the cheerful man. He'd heard Shu's explanation of their past, but it had never really occurred to him how affected Magnus was by his. But now, hearing about a baby who existed for no fault of his own, having a mother who didn't care about him and who'd rather die than raise the child feeling abandoned and burdened by a jerk of a man…it showed a side of Magnus Alec seldom saw.

When they arrived, Shu led the way and reported who she was. She was told the room the baby was being kept in, as well as the possible witnesses to what had happened. Shu first went to the room where the baby was being looked after, and they heard the wailing from outside the closed door. Shu opened the door to find that a nurse was frantically trying to calm down the baby boy to no avail.

Alec rushed forward, taking the baby instinctually.

"Hey-!" the nurse began to protest.

"Let him," Shu ordered. "Tell me what happened."

As Shu received a report of the incident, Alec rocked the baby gently and started talking to him, trying to calm him. When the baby looked up to him and listened to his voice, surprisingly, he started to calm down.

"He likes you," Aslan commented.

The baby peeked a hand out of the blanket he was wrapped in and reached out to Alec, who took it and started caressing the small fingers with his thumb.

"I like _him_ ," Alec said. "Yeah, it's okay, baby. You're okay."

The baby made a small noise that Alec wanted to assume was agreement.

Magnus moved next to Alec from behind, moving a glittery fingernail in front of the baby's face. The baby instantly took notice and lost interest in Alec's thumb, reaching out to try and catch Magnus's sparkling fingernail in interest. Magnus chuckled and kept moving his finger around, the baby's eyes not leaving it. Eventually, he let the baby catch it, and the baby seemed very content, gripping his finger tightly like it was his prized possession and Magnus had officially surrendered it to be the child's forever.

"Yes, thank you," Shu was saying. She turned to the others. "Aslan has to stay with me, but you two can look after the baby, right?"

Magnus nodded. "I think we've got this covered."

She nodded. "I'm gonna go look into the case. Others from the station should be here soon."

She headed to the door with Aslan at her side. They disappeared down the hall, and Alec and Magnus were left with the baby and the nurse.

"He hasn't slept since the incident," the nurse reported. "He needs some rest, so if you can get him to sleep, would it be too much to ask to have you stay here and hold him?"

"No," Alec said firmly. "No, it's not a problem at all."

* * *

"It really _is_ a suicide," Luke reported. "Not some murder in disguise. They've got it all on tape. Stole a scalpel and, well…"

Shu nodded. "A shame. To desire the killing of your child…"

"At least we saved the baby. But what'll happen to him now…"

"I think I've already got some people who want to adopt him."

"Well that's great! Who?"

"My brother and Alec."

"They're back together?"

Shu pulled out her phone and tapped it a couple times. "It's all over the news. I'm surprised you didn't see it."

He saw an article about how the famous Alexander Lightwood and Magnus Bane had proposed to each other in a coffee shop thanks to Magnus's sister giving them a push. Luke laughed as he saw the picture of Magnus and Alec kissing with Shu caught mid-sentence with her mouth open.

"Not your most flattering picture."

She shrugged. "I agreed to have the picture released. It's a good message for this time of year. And what's wrong with something that will make people laugh along with the message of their marriage?"

"And now they want to adopt? Moving a little fast, aren't they?"

"It's not their fault that a baby happened to be orphaned just after they proposed to each other. I guess the mother should've waited a couple years before she tried to kill her son and then commit suicide."

"Shu…" Luke sighed. "You know that's not what I meant."

Shu was unfazed. "It's fine, Luke. In any case, I think they're making up for lost time. Married with a kid - where we all thought they'd be long before now. They deserve it more than anyone. Let 'em have their moment, Luke."

"Sure, sure. But you know that they have to go through a lot of things to prove they're worthy of being parents."

"They're financially very stable and the nurses have proof they're good with him. It can't take more than a week."

"Don't tell me you're gonna cheat the system."

"Where would you ever get _that_ idea, Lucian?" she said, her voice blank of emotion.

With that, she turned and walked away.

* * *

"You two should start thinking up names for your children," Magnus said, holding the baby boy on his shoulder.

Shu and Aslan were playing the fastest game of chess in existence, and yet they were still playing it properly. They hardly ever hesitated on their moves, at least until the end of the game when it started to come down to the line. Shu had more pieces on the board, but Aslan was in a good position to attack her queen if she didn't move the right pieces at the right time. It was a representation of how they viewed games - Shu valued numbers and Aslan was willing to make sacrifices to win.

"They both have IQ's of over 200," Alec said. "A child of theirs would be scary smart."

"You never know," Magnus said. "Maybe two negatives would create a positive."

"They've just recently met, Magnus. You can't expect it to be love at first sight."

"Why not? It was with _me_."

Alec thought back to the first time he'd met Magnus in the parking lot of the school, seeing Magnus after Shu's description had given him a _much_ different impression in his head. He remembered nearly forgetting to speak, nearly forgetting that shaking hands was a thing that you did when you introduced yourself. Magnus wasn't what he'd expected, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For better or worse, Alec hadn't been able to stop staring at Magnus. He remembered when he'd seen Magnus helping Izzy with her school project, the first time Alec had seen Magnus in his element. Maybe it _had_ been love at first sight, Alec just was too oblivious to have realized it. It sounded just like him.

"Yeah, me too," he admitted.

"Checkmate," Shu said.

"Darn," Aslan said. "One more move and I would've had you."

"You sacrificed too many pieces in order to get close to my queen. Having nothing left to lose is all well and good, but if you have nothing you care enough to fight for-" She tapped his queen and tipped it over to fall on the checkerboard. "-then you can never have a strong enough drive to win."

Aslan stared at the fallen queen thoughtfully. There was something about his gaze that showed he understood that she wasn't just talking about board games anymore. Alec wondered why he was in witness protection, who was after him, and what he had done to piss them off.

"Shu learned to play chess when she was really little," Magnus said. "Even before I'd met her."

"You weren't raised together?" Aslan asked.

"We were adopted one by one," Shu explained. "First me, then Magnus when we found out he existed."

"I was adopted too, at least until I rebelled against my dad and went my own way back when I was 17."

Oddly enough, that statement made Shu smile. Years of getting nothing out of her and now this guy got her to react _that_ easily? Then again, it was probably Magnus and Alec's proposal that got her to loosen up, and whatever subtext that was behind Aslan's words started to break through her barriers. After all, Shu always loved being more knowledgeable than everyone else.

"As for your previous conversation," Shu said. "It's _you_ who should be thinking up names."

Magnus looked up from the baby in his arms. "Names for what?"

"Your son."

Magnus flinched. "What? I have a son?"

"You will. You're holding him right now."

Magnus looked at the baby in his arms. "You mean…?"

She nodded. "Once I settle the paperwork and you get approval as proper parents, he'll be yours. Unless you don't want him, in which case, he'll be mine."

Magnus chuckled. "You? A mom?"

"I don't feel comfortable leaving this child in the hands of someone who never knew what happened to his mother. They gave him a mandatory DNA test to try and find the father, but he, so far, doesn't seem to exist. I want to be able to tell this boy, one day, that he was loved, that he's here for a reason, and that someone, if not his mother or father, didn't want to abandon him."

Magnus smiled. "I'm…I'm fine with it if you are, Alec."

Alec stared. Hope bloomed in his chest at the idea of keeping this child that he'd started to grow attached to. He couldn't imagine the baby going anywhere else, he couldn't imagine not seeing where he went or who he grew into. Magnus had asked about love at first sight, and Alec started to realize that this was what it meant. It was loving someone or something without knowing what the future would be like, taking that risk that you would love them like the first time you met them no matter what.

Alec sat forward to Magnus's side, putting his hand on the baby's back. "I think…I'd love that."

"Excellent," Shu said. "Because I've already informed the others."

Magnus looked up in horror. "How many 'others' are we talking here?"

She smiled again, this time one of her sadistic smiles. Those weren't as rare over the years as her other smiles. "I told Isabelle."

And Alec knew they were in trouble. Because if Shu told Izzy, then Izzy would tell _everyone_.

"Oh boy."

* * *

Magnus had never taken Robert Lightwood for a kind man.

Ever since the media blew up on him all those years ago, his relationship with the rest of the family had been tense at best. It was his fault that Max died, after all. Maryse Lightwood, or rather, Maryse Trueblood now that she'd been divorced from Robert, hadn't ever been in the same room as Robert since the incident. The two couldn't stand each other, but it was mostly the silence between them that was the scariest part.

Now, however, the two were bantering almost playfully. No, they _were_ bantering playfully.

"I was _very_ involved with all of you when you were young," Robert argued. "I'm excellent with babies."

Alec blinked at his father, who had appeared by Alec's side with speed none of them were aware a person was capable of. Alec, holding the baby, seemed to have a target on his back since everyone wanted to hold him. Magnus didn't know what to do, so he was standing off to the side a little.

"As I recall," Maryse said, "you _bounce_ them."

"Babies love that," Robert claimed. "Babies love bouncing."

"Bouncing will make the baby spit up."

"Bouncing will make the baby spit up _with joy_."

Magnus had, for several moments, believed that the only possible explanation was that the whole family was drunk. Isabelle had dragged over Clary and Jace to help baby-proof Magnus's apartment, and when Magnus had protested to their methods of tearing up some of his shirts to stuff some crevices with bits of material, he realized that having a baby was a little more complicated than he had initially assumed.

"Why are you being like this?" Magnus had asked. " _Why?_ "

"Think about it!" Isabelle had said. "We had to deal with the crevices. The baby could crawl around and get his hand or his foot stuck in a crevice! He could be hurt. You don't want the baby to get hurt, do you?"

"No. Nor do I intend to tear my whole life into strips and rearrange it because of a baby."

Maryse and Robert, who Magnus had rarely ever imagined getting along, had just laughed together.

"Oh, I remember thinking that way," Maryse said. "You'll learn, Magnus."

Alec had made the error of trusting _Jace_ with the baby so that he could ward off his parents, but when the baby gave a sudden, vigorous wriggle, everyone had surged forward in panic, even Magnus. His attention had somehow focused on the baby without him even thinking about it, so the moment he saw something happening, his body had jumped into action before his mind could catch up. Luckily Jace had kept ahold of the baby despite the wriggle. He looked flat-out terrified for a minute, then relaxed and looked around at everyone with his usual air of mild superiority.

"He's fine," Jace told them. "He's tough."

Magnus had to go out to the balcony in the cold, icy air, in order to try and calm his nerves. This was all starting to catch up to him. This was his life now. He had Alec, he had a baby, he had the Lightwoods going crazy, and it would be long before Ren and Kandai showed up-

There was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Clary called.

There they were.

Magnus sighed, trying to mentally prepare himself for his adoptive parents. As if Alec's family wasn't bad enough, but now _his_ side of the family had arrived. Oh boy. In the end, Magnus decided he would stay out there just a _little_ longer.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Alec had joined him.

"Thanks for entertaining them," Alec sighed. "I never knew they'd be so…enthusiastic."

Magnus gave a smile. "I'm just glad your family's all getting along."

"Nothing like a baby to bring a family together. And your dads are really nice."

Magnus sighed. "Shu bails on us right when she might be the only sane one there."

Alec smiled. "You don't regret it, right?"

Magnus looked up and saw the genuine concern in Alec's eyes. It hadn't occurred to him how worried Alec might be about Magnus saying no.

He took Alec's hands. "Never, Alexander. I'll never regret loving you, I'll never regret proposing to you, I'll never regret raising a child with you - no matter how much I complain. I'll never regret writing that little message on the desk all those years ago."

Alec leaned up and kissed him, and Magnus finally relaxed. All the energy he'd lost from the stress and the work of dealing with the changes in his life had suddenly returned. Alexander Lightwood was an amazing person, and he was all Magnus's.

"Think we should get back in there?" Alec asked.

Magnus sighed. "I suppose."

They headed back inside, seeing Isabelle first, eyeing the baby with the longing that everyone in the room had while her parents were fawning over the child.

"Are you going to kneecap your parents so you can hold the baby?" Magnus asked, trying to sound joking but he was being very serious.

Isabelle laughed lightly. "No, of course not. Soon his formula will be ready. Then…" Isabelle's face changed, set with terrifying determination. " _I_ am going to feed the baby. Until then, I can wait, and help you guys come up with the perfect name for him."

"We were talking about that a little as we came in," Maryse said, her voice eager.

Robert made another of his lightning-swift, cat-footed, and unsettling moves, this time to Magnus's side. He put a heavy hand on Magnus's shoulder, while Magnus eyed Robert's hand and felt deep unease.

"Of course it's up to you and Alec," Robert assured him.

"Of course," said Maryse, who never agreed with Robert on anything. "And we don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with. I would never want the little darling to have a name associated with…sadness rather than joy, or for either of you to feel like you have to do this. But we thought since…well, we thought you might consider, in memory but not as a burden…"

Isabelle spoke, her voice clear: "Max Lightwood."

Magnus found himself blinking, partly in perplexity, but partly because of another feeling he found much less easy to define. His vision blurred and something in his chest had twisted. The mistake the Lightwoods had made was ridiculous, and yet Magnus could not help but be stunned by their offer, and how genuine and sincere it had been.

"Or if you don't like that…Michael. Michael's a nice name," Robert offered into the long silence.

He cleared his throat after he spoke, and looked out of the window nervously.

"I think Max is a nice name," Ren offered.

Alec moved, reaching out not to take the baby but to touch him. The baby flung a hand up, tiny fingers curling around Alec's finger, as if reaching back. Alec's face, stricken since the mention of his brother's name, was warmed by a sudden, faint smile.

"Magnus and I haven't talked about it yet, and we need to," Alec said quietly. His voice had authority, even when it was quiet. Magnus saw Robert and Maryse nodding along to it, almost unconsciously. "But I was thinking maybe Max as well."

There was a beeping from the kitchen and Isabelle jumped to life.

"Formula's ready!"

She rushed away, and that suddenly seemed to kick the room back into action. The Lightwoods and now Ren and Kandai continued on their quest to childproof the place, feed the baby, and all hold the baby at once. Magnus sighed and joined in on the chaos. It wasn't like he wasn't used to chaos, this was just the first time that he'd actually gotten exhausted from it. Exhausted in a good way, he thought.

This was his life now, and he loved it more than anything.

* * *

Shu stared at the report of the woman's suicide.

Currently, she was reading off the interviews from the witnesses of the crime, which had recently been transcribed and handed to her.

" _She said before she died: 'Who could ever love it?' It was so sad_."

The baby wouldn't know what his mother had said, not for a while, at least. He was with a loving family now, much better than anything that woman could've ever offered if she was willing to go so far just to end it.

"Are you even paying attention?" Aslan asked.

"I understand the plan, Aslan. Stop being so loud or you'll be heard."

They were alone on the streets of the city, sitting outside a closed bakery. All of the shops were closed for New Years Eve. She was reading the reports while Aslan looked around, bored, waiting for him to be inevitably attacked.

"They're thinking of naming him Max after Alec's late little brother."

Aslan looked up to the cloudy dark sky. "Max, huh? I like it."

"How did you get caught up in all of this?"

"What? The Morgensterns?" She nodded. "I went to them for help to escape my dad and they made me into a killer. But unlike what they wanted, I still have feelings underneath all this callous murder. What about you? How did you get into the police force? Top of the line as you are?"

"My boyfriend died while he was trying to propose to me. As the daughter of an important figure in the Mortal Instruments company, the brother of Magnus Bane, the friend of Alexander Lightwood of Lightwood Industries, I had a lot of targets on my back. He saved me, and I shot the man with every bullet I had at the time. After that, I vowed to help do some good in the world with my talents."

"I killed a man when I was eight," Aslan threw out randomly. "I mean, he abused me and no one would ever believe me when I tried to tell everyone because he was so popular, but still. After that, well, I was destined to be an assassin, gang leader, all that jazz."

"What was it like?" Shu asked. "When you killed him? After what he did, was it worth it? Seeing him fall dead?"

Aslan shrugged. "That's the thing. I didn't feel anything. I cried, yeah, I was eight, but I cried because I felt _nothing_. I worried what I was, some kind of monster."

"And how did you cope with that feeling?"

He kicked a rock across the ground. "Dunno. I guess I just bottled it all up and it…it all just faded with the rest of the craziness around me. And you? How did you feel after you made your first kill? Were you satisfied with his death, after what he did?"

She shook her head. "No. Just like you, I…I felt nothing. I didn't feel satisfaction, I didn't feel _sorrow_. I just…didn't feel. And that should've been scary to me. Suddenly, it was like the part of me that could feel died with my boyfriend. It died with that future he was offering me, it died with that love he had given me."

"It didn't die, silly. It's just sleeping. It's waiting until you're ready to let it come out, because it's gonna hurt and it wanted to give you time to prepare yourself."

"Prepare myself? How do I do that?"

"You don't know? The oh-so-brilliant goddess lady doesn't know how to handle her own feelings?"

"It seems to be the one thing that I _don't_ know, something that I've traded for the rest of this."

He chuckled. "Well, there's no real way to prepare for it. Just have someone you care for and trust by your side and then bawl your eyes out."

She stood. "I should prepare myself."

He looked at her in confusion, but then a moment later there was the loud bang of a gun and she collapsed, blood leaking from her shoulder. His hand was on his weapon but he heard the sound of a gun cocking behind him and froze.

"Morgenstern," he said flatly.

Sebastian Morgenstern, heir to his company that had once employed Aslan and taught him to be who he was

"Hello, Aslan. Was _that_ your protection? Really? What was your plan? To draw me out and have _her_ protect you?"

"I don't need protection."

He felt his weapon being taken from its holster and a shove to his shoulder to turn around. He held his hands up in surrender and started to back up.

"Don't do anything you're going to regret," he warned.

Sebastian's smile was scarily confident. "What will I regret? You're a traitor, a leak that needs to be deal with before you start talking."

"And what makes you think I haven't already talked?"

He shrugged. "Either way, we can deal with it, and I'll shoot you either way."

"Then what are you waiting for? After all, you've been in this business for a few years now, and ever since that Lightwood kid, you've learned to kill without remorse."

He shrugged. "I won't deny it." He looked to his watch. "Thirty seconds till midnight. Perhaps I just wanna be sentimental about your death."

"Ah, so then I guess you'll still get to accomplish your New Year's resolution."

He raised an eyebrow. "What-?"

Two gunshots rang out. Aslan wasn't unfamiliar with gore, and so he didn't flinch as Sebastian's head was blow away on the second shot, the first having hit him in the torso from behind right into his heart. Shu was precise, he'd give her that.

She hobbled forward, her semi-automatic pistol on her left hand. Her right shoulder had been shot, bleeding out, and her entire right arm was limp at her side.

"Didn't know I'd been learning to shoot with my left, did you? That's for Max, you son of a bitch."

"Nice shooting," Aslan said.

"Three years of planning that," she hissed. "It's not very fulfilling."

He walked forward and held his hand over her bleeding shoulder. "You need treatment. Now."

She nodded, but he surprised her by leaning in to kiss her. Without incident, he pulled back and went to Sebastian's body, grabbing his revolver back.

"What was that for?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe I'm just trying to help you prepare. You got what you wanted, you got your revenge. Now there's nothing left to distract you, there's nothing left to hide behind in order to suppress that part of you anymore."

She sighed, grabbing her phone and hitting the speed-dial button. "We got him. Send in the troops."

" _Are you hurt?_ " Luke asked.

"Obviously. Just get over here."

Her voice was near completely stable despite having a bullet in her shoulder. She hit the button to end the call and then finally collapsed, breathing hard and trying not to fall over on the street and pass out from the shock.

"Hey, breathe," she heard Aslan saying. "Stay with me. Start talking about something, get your mind on something else beside the pain."

She took dep breaths. "He knew I was wearing a bullet-proof vest, so he aimed for my shoulder to disarm me. He wanted me alive. I've been hunting that shit-head for years now, I've made myself a _real_ nuisance." She chuckled. "He was an amateur. He got caught because of Max all those years ago, he was the one responsible for the attack. Even now, he was just a snobby rich kid handed everything thanks to the Morgenstern name. He saw my file, saw I was right-handed, and so he shot my right shoulder. He started talking, tried to be cocky, and that was his downfall." She pulled out the recorder in her pocket and clicked a button. "Downloaded. Don't lose it, blondy."

He took the recorder. "I won't." He stuck the recorder in his pocket. "You think you're ready?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Time to let myself feel again? Well, personally, I don't really _want_ to feel the pain right now. It's a little more intense than normal."

She grunted and increased the pressure on her shoulder.

"If you don't do it now, you may never do it," Aslan said. "I'll be here the whole way through. New Year's resolution, right?"

She exhaled. "Okay fine. Here we go."

She took a deep breath.

And then she screamed at the top of her lungs.

* * *

"You're still up?" Alec asked.

Magnus jumped, realizing that he _was_ still up. The others had stayed late into the night for the past few days, and last he heard Alec was chasing them out and cleaning up after their most recent visit. Magnus was supposed to be sleeping, but he hadn't taken his eyes off of Max. Alec had been firm with his friends and family, saying that Max and Magnus needed sleep and that they could get Max tomorrow on New Year's Eve. Their sleep schedules were already messed up anyway.

"Guess I forgot to sleep," Magnus explained weakly.

Alec moved to sit down beside Magnus on the bed. "I like this apartment, by the way. I forgot to tell you, but if we're going to raise a child, I don't want him to grow up _too_ pampered. This apartment of yours is cozy. I'm glad you thought of it."

He chuckled. "Well, I come here a lot, whenever I need to be alone, get away from the crowds."

"I wouldn't say Brooklyn is 'away from the crowds' exactly."

He smiled. "Well, it's comfy for me."

Alec took his hand, looking over to the sleeping baby. "You know how my family suggested calling the baby Max?"

Magnus nodded, carefully quiet. He'd never had the chance to know Max, but he knew that it was a touchy subject for the Lightwoods. "Yeah. You wanna…consider it?"

"Do you?"

"I'm fine with it if you are. I know that it means a lot to you."

Alec's voice was soft, both for the baby and with memory. "I was never the cool brother. I remember when Mom used to leave Max with me, when he was really little, just learning how to walk, and I was always scared he would fall down and it would be my fault. I'd constantly try to get him to obey the rules and do what Mom said. Isabelle was so great with him, always making him laugh, and by the Angel, Max wanted to be _just_ like Jace. He thought Jace was the coolest, the best guy who ever lived - the best _Shadowhunter_ who ever lived, depending on the day - that the sun rose and set on him. Jace gave him a little toy soldier and Max used to take it to bed with him. I was jealous of how much Max loved that toy. I used to give him other things, toys that I thought were better, but he always loved that soldier best. He died holding that toy for comfort, Jace had put it in his hand in the hospital. I'm so glad he had it, that he had something he loved to comfort him. It was stupid and petty to be jealous."

Magnus shook his head. Alec gave him a rueful smile, and then bowed his black head, looking at the floor.

"I always thought there would be more time," Alec said. "I thought Max would get older, he'd come home with us more often, I thought I'd be able to have his back and we'd look after Izzy and Jace and we'd all be one big family soon enough. He'd know his boring big brother was good for something then. He'd know he could count on me, no matter what. He should have been able to count on me."

"He _was_ able to count on you," Magnus assured him. "I know that. He knew that. Nobody who has ever met you could doubt it."

"He never even knew that I'm gay. Or that I love you. I wish he could have met you."

"I wish I could've met _him_. But he knew you. He loved you. You know that, don't you?"

"I do know that. I just…I always wished I could be more for him."

"You always try to be more, for everyone you love. You don't see how your whole family turns to you how they rely on you. _I_ rely on you. You love the people you love so much that you want to be an impossible ideal for them. You don't realize that you are more than enough."

Alec shrugged, a little helplessly. "I'm scared. I'm scared he won't like me. I'm scared I'll let him down. But I want to try to be there for him. I want him. Do you?"

"I didn't expect him. I didn't expect _anything_ like this to come, for me. Even if I thought sometimes about what it might be like if you and I _did_ have a family, I thought it wouldn't be for _years_. But yes. Yes, I want to try as well."

Alec's smile was so brilliant that Magnus finally realized just how relieved he was, realized belatedly how really worried Alec had been that Magnus would say no.

"Good because if we had to cancel our families would _kill_ us," Alec said and Magnus couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry for never really talking to you alone about all this, with the pressure and stuff."

"Shu practically threw him at us and said if we didn't want him, she would. This baby is staying with us whether we like it or not."

"If my parents are anything to go by, we're going to be miserable any day now."

"I'm already sleep-deprived," Magnus sighed, laying down on the bed. "But not miserable. Things are gonna be hard, there's no doubt about it. We're going to have days where we're begging for a break but we don't get one because that's the vow we're taking as parents. But we're not going to regret it. At least, _I'm_ not. I'll never ever say that I regret it." He chuckled. "Well, maybe I will in the future, but I won't _mean_ it. I've always thrived from the chaos, and it'll all be worth it to see that kid grow up with a loving family."

Alec laid down next to Magnus, dangling his legs over the edge of the bed. "I won't regret it either. We're in this together. And if we ever get tired, I'm sure that our families are more than eager to babysit."

Magnus chuckled. "No doubt about it."

* * *

"Give _me_ the baby," Maryse said jealously. "You've had him for _four whole minutes_ , Clarissa."

Magnus and Alec had finally gotten some sleep while their families were playing Pass the Baby. Everyone wanted to hold him, and so long as he was in the hands of their trusted friends, the two of them had managed to get in a few hours of sleep before Magnus's alarm had woken him up for New Year's. There were more than just the families there; it seemed that _everyone_ had unanimously invited every friend they knew to Magnus's apartment for New Year's.

He and Alec had joined the others to find they were timing out everyone's turns with the baby. Magnus first noticed Robert Lightwood holding a watch in a death grip waiting for his next turn. Clary's best friend Simon and Izzy's new boyfriend had shamelessly tried to curry favor with Isabelle's father by offering his digital watch to be used as a timer.

He had clasped Simon's shoulder and said, "Thanks, son," which Simon took as a blessing to date Robert's daughter.

Magnus and Alec had exchanged a glance before laughing and joining the party. Alec went over to talk to Jace and Simon while Clary surrendered the baby and went to dance with Isabelle in the soft music flowing throughout the room.

Magnus wasn't sure what happened, but he guessed that Jace had made another of his many unfortunate jokes when Alec, paragon of maturity, appeared to be hitting his best friend/brother repeatedly around the head.

"What is wrong with you?!" Alec demanded. He laughed and kept raining down blows as Jace flailed on the sofa, sending cushions flying, a vison of grace. "Seriously, Jace, what is _wrong_ with you?!"

This seemed a reasonable question to Magnus.

Meanwhile, Magnus kept on misplacing the baby in the exciting game of Pass the Baby. This did not seem a good sign for the future. Magnus was sure you were meant to keep a firm grip on your child's location. He was normally good with confusion, knowing where everything is at any time. He worked in a very chaotic industry, after all.

When he finally _did_ locate the baby with Maryse in the kitchen, the baby let out a fretful little wail. Magnus felt that he was learning to distinguish between the different wails, and he hurried to grab a bottle of formula, ready-made. Maryse visibly summoned up the willpower to surrender the baby when Magnus held out his hand to feed him. It _was_ his son, after all.

"You're good with him," Maryse offered as Magnus tucked him into the corner of hs arm and popped the bottle into his small mouth.

"Alec's better," Magnus said.

Maryse smiled, looking proud. "He's very mature for his age."

Magnus looked through the door to where Alec was attacking Jace on the couch. "Yes, yes he is."

Maryse laughed, and Magnus felt a small bit of pride that he got along with Maryse even after all that had happened.

They headed back to the party, seeing Simon and Izzy dancing - very badly, but neither seemed to mind - Clary jumping up and down with a girl named Marisol, barely taller than the younger girl, and Magnus looked over just in time to see Caterina fleecing Jon Cartwright at cards, over by the window.

Robert Lightwood was standing right beside Magnus. Robert had to stop creeping up on people like this. Someone was going to have a heart attack.

"Hello, little man," Robert said. "Where did _you_ go off to?"

He shot a suspicious look at Maryse, who rolled her eyes.

"Magnus and I were just having a talk," she said, touching Magnus's arm.

Her behavior made perfect sense to Magnus: win over the son-in-law, gain more access to the grandchild. He had seen these kinds of family interactions before, but he had never, never thought he would be part of them.

"Oh?" Robert said eagerly. "Have you decided on his name?"

The latest song stopped playing just as Robert asked the question, his booming voice ringing out in the hush. Alec leaped off Jace and over the back of the sofa to stand beside Magnus. The sofa collapsed, gently, with Jace still trapped in the cushions. Magnus snickered at the scene and then looked to Alec, who looked back at him, hope shining in his face.

"We did talk about it, actually," Magnus said. "And we thought that you had the right idea."

"You mean…" Maryse began.

Magnus inclined his head, as close as he could come to a sweeping bow while holding the baby. "I am delighted to introduce you all," he said, "to Max Lightwood."

Magnus felt Alec's hand rest, warm as gratitude and sure as love, against his back. He looked down at the baby's face. The baby seemed more interested in his bottle than his name. Magnus knew he could do a lot worse than this name, this sign of love and acceptance, grief and hope. Max Lightwood. One of the beautiful surprises of life.

There was a humming, delighted hush, with murmurs of pleasure and approval.

"He'll be Max Lightwood-Bane soon enough, won't he?" Isabelle announced loudly.

"Yeah," Clary said. "It has a nice ring to it."

The crowd of their friends began chatting it up again, and then Maryse and Robert started arguing over middle names.

"Michael," Robert repeated, a stubborn man.

Caterina strolled up, tucking a roll of money into her bra and thus not looking like the most appropriate nurse/teacher in the history of all time. "How about Ragnor?"

"Clary," Jace called from the fallen sofa. "Help me. It's gone all dark."

There was laughter from a few of their friends as Clary hurried over to help Jace, demanding what he'd done this time.

Magnus wandered away from the debate since Max's bottle was almost empty and Max was starting to cry. "Don't cry," he urged, getting the formula ready and waiting for it to heat up. "Don't cry and don't spit up on my shirt. If you do either of those things, I will forgive you, but I will be upset. I want us to get along."

Max cried on. Magnus wiggled the fingers of his free hand over the baby's face, wishing he was a warlock so that he could cast a spell to make babies hush. To his surprise, Max ceased crying, in the same way he had when he was first transferred to Alec's arms back in the hospital. He stared with a liquid, interested gaze at the sparkles cast on his face by Magnus's rings.

"See?" Magnus said, restoring Max's bottle to him, full again. "I knew we were going to get along."

He went and stood in the doorway, cradling Max in his arms, so that he could watch the party. He looked to Alec, who was standing between his parents, his stance confident and relaxed, his mouth curved in a smile at something one of them had said.

"He's changed, but he's still the same Alec. No doubt he'll make a few more mistakes, but we'll look after him, you and I. Won't we?"

Max made a happy burbling sound that Magnus took as agreement. Magnus put the bottle down to one side and pressed his lips to the fuzzy curls covering his son's head. He heard Max make a small murmuring sound in his hear.

"Don't worry," Magnus murmured back. "We're all in this together."

Alec wandered over just as the count down for the year came. Alec gave Magnus a kiss and reached over to fiddle with Max's hand. And so the three of them began their first of many years together.

And then the moment was ruined by Magnus's phone ringing. Magnus passed over Max to Alec, who didn't complain about the chance to hold his son.

"Hello?" Magnus said into the phone.

* * *

"Why would you do this?" Magnus sighed.

"Come now, dear brother, you know I can't resist the action," Shu smirked.

He hadn't seen her so emotional since three years ago, before her world had come tumbling down. Maybe they had given her too many drugs here at the hospital. You know, after having to get a bullet removed from her shoulder and all!

"So, you named him Max after all?"

Magnus nodded. "You missed the naming ceremony. For this, I shall never forgive."

She laughed. "I'll make up for it by babysitting. I'm sure you're gonna need it with how busy you both are. Ooo, you should make his middle name Alek - with a 'k.' That'd be cute."

Magnus snickered. "We'll think about it. And you're busy too, big sister. You're a police officer. That's a very important job."

"I won't be a police officer for a few weeks. My boss says that, and I quote, 'You need to take some damn time off.' I'm not allowed to work for at least two months. It's a punishment for being so reckless trying to stop Sebastian."

"Can't say that I disagree with your boss," Kandai said, walking into the hospital room. "What were you _thinking_ , young lady?!"

"I was wearing a bullet-proof vest, Papa."

"Does a bullet-proof vest protect your _head?_ What if this maniac had been a little smarter? What if he'd been out for the kill?"

"He wasn't. I've been a pain in the ass, he'd want me alive."

"And if he'd _succeeded?_ You are my little girl no matter how old you get, so don't you go risking your life like that anymore!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll try my best, Papa. I just wanted to avenge Max. I figured out that it was Sebastian who…who broke in that day, who Max caught. Sebastian wasn't very good at fighting and he helped give away information that busted the Morgenstern case wide open. I just wanted to be able to tell you that Max was avenged, and now we've got a new Max. I hope that we've made amends."

Magnus saw Kandai's anger fade from his eyes. "Now that that's done, I just hope I have you back."

She smiled. "I'm back, Papa. I've cried my eyes out, I think that I've properly grieved, and now…I'm gonna try and make up for all the time I've lost. Starting with being the flower girl at your wedding, Mags."

"Not maid of honor?"

"I thought you'd both want a best man. Then again, I can play a best man too, if you want. It's not a bad idea."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever you wanna be, I'm all for it."

"Speaking of relationships, what's this about a new man?" Kandai demanded.

"Aslan said he was her boyfriend, but then he got kneed in the groin, so…"

"We've known each other for three years since I began researching the Morgensterns after Charon's death," Shu explained. "He was my insider in the organization, but recently he was found out and we had to take him into witness protection. We planned out for him to get caught and for me to ambush Sebastian - we figured he'd want to do this alone. Hubris goes a long way sometimes."

"And what is your relationship status?" Kandai prodded.

"Girl who just got shot and guy who _nearly_ got shot," she deadpanned.

Magnus laughed as the two bantered back and forth, Shu expertly dodging the questions Kandai was offering. They were a real family again, and he couldn't imagine being happier. Magnus left the two of them to bicker it out, joining Alec in the hall since he and Max technically weren't family just yet and weren't allowed in.

"Hi," Magnus smiled.

"Hello," Alec greeted.

"Now for the next problem in life," Magnus announced. "Planning a wedding."

Alec snickered. "Adjusting to having a baby will be _nothing_ compared to that."

"I don't know. I think Aline and Helen will take care of a lot of it whether we like it or not. And Izzy will be more than eager. Shu will probably want to make the biggest mess possible."

Alec leaned in to kiss him. "Well, no matter what happens, we'll get through it together."

Magnus smiled. "Yeah."

As he stared at his fiancé and his son, he knew that everything was going to be okay.


End file.
